The Qantas Australian Women’s Sevens team has been named for the Oceania Sevens Championship in Suva, Fiji this weekend with Demi Hayes to feature in her first tournament since the USA 7s last season.
Joining the Aussie 7s is a string of next generation players including Rachel Crothers, Hagiga Mosby and Madison Ashby. Australia Women are the defending champions having defeated New Zealand last year in the Final of the Oceania Sevens.
Due to the Olympic qualifiers, Australia will play in a separate competition team to the teams who are in the hunt for Olympic qualification but will meet Canada and New Zealand as the Aussies’ fixtures.
Qantas Australian Women’s Sevens Head Coach, John Manenti said: “We’ve been building well into our season over the last few weeks and the Oceania Sevens gives us a great opportunity to continue to do so.
“This tournament is tough, and we know just how hard teams will be coming at us this year.
“It’s fantastic for Demi (Hayes) to be back in the fold, she’s been working very hard to make sure she is in the best physical condition and she’s hungry for game time which is great for the group.”
The Oceania Sevens is the last major pre-season tournament before round two of the HSBC Women’s Sevens World Series in Dubai. Australia finished round one of the series in second place.
Qantas Australian Women's Sevens Squad for Oceania 7s
1. Shannon Parry (c), University of Sydney, QLD
2. Faith Nathan, University of Technology Sydney, NSW
3. Sariah Paki, University of Technology Sydney, NSW
4. Cassandra Staples, University of Queensland, NSW
5. Hagiga Mosby, University of Queensland, QLD
6. Georgia Hannaway, University of Queensland, QLD
7. Rachel Crothers, University of Canberra, ACT
8. Madison Ashby, University of Technology Sydney, NSW
9. Lauren Brown, Bond University, QLD
10. Demi Hayes, Griffith University, QLD
11. Rhiannon Byers, University of New England, NSW
12. Mahalia Murphy, University of Adelaide, NSW
Qantas Australian Women’s Sevens Fixtures:
Thursday 7 November
Australia v Canada, 12.56pm AEDT
Friday 8 November
Australia v New Zealand, 11.06am AEDT
