{"id":304831,"date":"2025-11-24T04:23:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T04:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/304831\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T04:23:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T04:23:08","slug":"prolific-wallaroos-try-scorer-opens-up-about-new-sevens-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/304831\/","title":{"rendered":"Prolific Wallaroos try-scorer opens up about new sevens challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Wallaroos flyer Maya Stewart<\/a> is relishing the chance to better her skills on the international sevens circuit after earning a surprise call-up to Australia\u2019s wider travelling squad.<\/p>\n

Stewart, 25, has been training with Tim Walsh\u2019s Australian side alongside Wallaroos teammates Desiree Miller<\/a> and Waiaria Ellis<\/a> since returning from the 2025 Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup<\/a> in England.<\/p>\n

While Stewart won\u2019t be pulling on gold for a SVNS debut just yet, she\u2019s set to don the Australia<\/a> A jersey against Belgium, Kazakhstan, Brazil<\/a> and China<\/a> in this weekend\u2019s Dubai Invitational Women\u2019s tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing off the back of the World Cup, I was dissatisfied from an individual and a team perspective,\u201d Stewart told RugbyPass.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be a better athlete, so I think being able to come into a really competitive fulltime environment like this will help me improve so hopefully I can then make the Wallaroos a better team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn sevens, everything\u2019s really concentrated, the intensity goes all the way up with those back-to-back efforts. It\u2019s testing on the lungs and brain but it\u2019s also been really great to find that instinctive rugby again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen those sevens girls coming across to Wallaroos and it\u2019s a great step from us now to see other girls putting their hands up and coming from fifteens to sevens \u2013 I think it helps the organisation as a whole and just being able to train as fulltime athletes as well.<\/p>\n

International sevens presents an entirely new challenge for Australia\u2019s leading Test try scorer (16), but Stewart insists her goal isn\u2019t a SVNS debut.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, playing Australia A is a bonus and while I\u2019d never close off an opportunity to put on the gold jersey, I just want to become a better athlete,\u201d Stewart said.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been doing a bit of everything and it\u2019s great to train things you don\u2019t often do in fifteens \u2013 there\u2019s new skills around aerial stuff, footwork \u2013 just different areas to work on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve even been packing down a few scrums and my boyfriend\u2019s a frontrower in fourth grade so I\u2019ve been getting some advice there too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stewart won\u2019t be the only Wallaroos flyer taking on international sevens with Ellis named for Australia\u2019s Global Youth Sevens outfit.<\/p>\n

Global Youth Sevens bring the next generation of HSBC SVNS Series stars together, allowing them to showcase their skill in an international arena. This event serves as a key pathway for senior sevens programs around the world.<\/p>\n

90 per cent of the full-time Australia Sevens program played in Global Youth Sevens during their rise to the SNVS Series, including captain Isabella Nasser, try-scoring machine Maddison Levi, and 2025 Shawn Mackay Award winner Faith Nathan.<\/p>\n

Ellis has been selected, about two months on from the Wallaroos\u2019 quarter-final exit at the 2025 Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup. While Ellis didn\u2019t take the field during the event, coach Jo Yapp did select the rising star in the squad.<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old debuted for the Wallaroos earlier in 2025, having been named to start on the right wing against the Black Ferns in Wellington. Ellis has been named in the Australian Under 18s squad along with Darci Turinui, who was the top try-scorer in the recent Next Gen 7s competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Australian Under 18s team will be looking to go one better than last year after losing the final to Japan,\u201d Rugby Australia Head of Women\u2019s Pathways, Lachlan Parkinson, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has become a great rivalry with the Japanese girls after they won in 2022 before we regained the title in 2023 and they won it back in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Australian Schoolgirls Under 18s program is also a major part of the 7s pathway in Australia, providing additional opportunities for our elite youth players to participate in an international tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two programs work closely together to support the development of the athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Australian U18s side will go into Global Youth Sevens as one of the teams to beat yet again, with a talented squad looking to repeat the title-winning heroics of those who have worn the jersey in the past.<\/p>\n

Australia won Global Youth Sevens in 2018, 2019 and 2023, and has finished as the runners-up on three occasions. They placed second in 2017, 2022 and 2024, with Japan\u2019s women\u2019s side taking out last year\u2019s decider 26-15.<\/p>\n

This Australian squad was chosen from a wider pool of 45 players who were selected for three camps throughout the year. Ellis is one of seven from New South Wales, and there\u2019s six representatives from Queensland in coach Shannon Parry\u2019s team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wallaroos flyer Maya Stewart is relishing the chance to better her skills on the international sevens circuit after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-304831","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}