USA & NZ choose 7s squads

Women's Eagles Sevens Head Coach Jules McCoy will choose a team of 12 from this week's High Performance Camp to travel to São Paulo next month for Brazil Women's Sevens, the second stop of the 2015-16 HSBC World Rugby Women's Sevens Series.

A few players, including capped 15s Eagles Meya Bizer and Carmen Farmer, returned from Fiji over the weekend, where the Serevi Selects finished runners-up at the international Coral Coast 7s tournament. Joining the residency athletes at the Olympic Training Center are Harvard graduate Cheta Emba, Women's Rugby World Cup 2014 reserve Samantha Pankey, and World Cup Sevens 2009 and 2013 Eagle Christy Ringgenberg.

The United States Olympic Committee's facility in southern California hosted Canada's women's sevens program for two weeks, culminating in two scrimmages with McCoy's residents Friday, Jan. 15. The teams split the results, with Canada holding advantages in the first half of each matchup and the U.S. improved in each second half. The scrimmages served as the first test against competition outside the red, white, and blue ranks since Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens the first weekend of December 2015.

"For four months now we've been working on specific skills, techniques, and decision-making to execute a different way to play the game for us," McCoy said. "They wanted to see if they could read the game the way we've been working on, and we don't know what the opposition's going to do.

"They wanted to test themselves to see if they could read the defense the way they wanted to read it, and also to see how our new defensive system played out. I do feel, because they felt they made progress, it built more confidence in the changes that were being made."

Ringgenberg has not made an appearance on the Series since the 2013-14 season, months after being a member of the bronze-medal U.S. squad in Russia at World Cup Sevens 2013, but is familiar with McCoy, having played under the current head coach at the 2009 tournament in Dubai.

Emba has attended multiple camps at the Olympic Training Center and has most recently been seen at the National All-Star Competitions. She received her first 15s caps in the inaugural Women's Rugby Super Series in Canada last year. Pankey was one of the veterans on that tour, and will attend her first camp with the sevens squad.

In Dubai, the U.S. finished a disappointing 11th, where it currently sits in the standings ahead of Ireland.

Meanwhile New Zealand Women’s Sevens coach Sean Horan has named 22 players in his contracted squad for 2016. From this squad, 12 players will be selected for the New Zealand side for Rio.Horan said he was pleased with the balance in the squad.“We’ve got some great experience which has served us really well for more than three years now. It’s a solid core and we have some up and coming players who are really exciting and who will bring new energy and enthusiasm.”One of those is Terina Te Tamaki who finished school in December. She is the younger sister of All Blacks Sevens squad member Isaac.“Terina played exceptionally well as an 18 year old for Waikato over the weekend at the Nationals. We also have Janna Vaughan who we’ve had on our radar for the past 12 months. She brings a real physicality to a centre role. She’s aggressive and abrasive and we need that.”With Tamaki, there are now four sibling pairings across both national sevens teams – Jordon and Joe Webber, Niall and Sonny Bill Williams, Stacey and Beaudein Waaka are the other pairings.Huriana Manuel and Selica Winiata (captain of Manawatu’s champion side) return after a long injury break.“They bring some quality depth to us. Huriana has that “honey badger” approach – that’s being tough and resilient in the contact area. Her tackle quality and decision-making in that close quarter stuff is something we’ve been missing.”The New Zealand Women’s Sevens team next plays at the Sao Paulo Sevens tournament on 20 and 21 February. They finished fifth in the opening tournament of the World Series in Dubai and will be looking for a sharp improvement in Sao Paulo.The team departs for a training camp in Florida in early February where they will also be based prior to the Olympic Games. The players will then spend two days in Rio De Janiero to familiarise themselves with the Olympic host city before travelling to Sao Paulo.“It’s a bit of a dry run," said Horan. "We want to see how the facilities are, see how we travel and how we deal with the heat. We want to see what sort of obstacles we may come across so it’s a bit of a dress rehearsal really.“We didn’t like coming fifth in Dubai, but there were some successes there. We learnt a lot. You just can’t take your finger off the pulse at any stage because if you do, the likes of Russia and the USA will put you to the sword. So in Sao Paulo, we want good game time for these players in the heat. We do want to win, but if we can tick a lot of boxes for where we are heading this year then that's the priority.”

Women's Eagles Sevens | January CampEmily Azevedo - Women's Eagles SevensBui Baravilala - Women's Eagles SevensAmelia Bizer - Women's Eagles SevensMegan Bonny - Women's Eagles SevensRyan CarlyleLauren Doyle - Women's Eagles SevensCheta Emba - Beantown Rugby Football ClubJoanne Fa'avesi - Women's Eagles SevensCarmen Farmer - Women's Eagles SevensVictoria Folayan - Women's Eagles SevensIrene Gardner - Women's Eagles SevensRachel Griendling - Women's Eagles SevensKelly Griffin - Women's Eagles SevensAbby Gustaitis - Women's Eagles SevensNicole Heavirland - Women's Eagles SevensJessica Javelet - Women's Eagles SevensAlev Kelter - Women's Eagles SevensHannah Lopez - Women's Eagles SevensDanielle MianoAmy Naber - Women's Eagles SevensJane Paar - Women's Eagles SevensSamantha Pankey - DC FuriesAshley Perry - Women's Eagles SevensJillion Potter - Women's Eagles SevensChristy Ringgenberg - Minnesota ValkyriesRichelle Stephens - Women's Eagles SevensNaya Tapper - Women's Eagles SevensKristen Thomas - Women's Eagles SevensKate Zackary - Women's Eagles Sevens

New Zealand's contracted 2016 squadShakira Baker WaikatoMichaela Blyde ManawatuKelly Brazier Bay of PlentyGayle Broughton TaranakiSarah Goss ManawatuHoney Hireme WaikatoCarla Hohepa WaikatoLesley Ketu WaikatoHuriana Manuel AucklandKayla McAlister AucklandTyla Nathan-Wong AucklandShiray Tane Hawke's BayTerina Te Tamaki* WaikatoHazel Tubic Counties ManukauRuby Tui CanterburyJanna Vaughan* ManawatuStacey Waaka WaikatoJordon Webber WaikatoKat Whata-Simpkins WellingtonNiall Williams AucklandSelica Winiata ManawatuPortia Woodman Counties Manukau