{"id":504829,"date":"2026-02-26T07:27:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T07:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/504829\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T07:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T07:27:10","slug":"waratahs-flyer-in-mix-for-australia-sevens-debut-as-vancouver-squads-named","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/504829\/","title":{"rendered":"Waratahs flyer in mix for Australia Sevens debut as Vancouver squads named"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Australia<\/a> has turned to Waratahs<\/a> speedster Archie Saunders<\/a> in their squad for the Vancouver SVNS, with a star trio also back in the mix as the series heads to the brisk north.<\/p>\n

Saunders was a standout for the Australia U20<\/a> side in 2024 and was formerly coached by Olympian Melinda Gainsford-Taylor during his time as a track athlete. Maurice Longbottom, Dietrich Roache and James Turner<\/a> are the returning stars for the men\u2019s team, who are tied for fourth place with France<\/a> on the season ladder.<\/p>\n

The trio come back from respective injuries as Will Cartwright<\/a> bows out for the remainder of the season with a shoulder issue. Longbottom will play his 50th tournament in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an exciting new challenge as the team heads to the cooler northern hemisphere where Vancouver has a high of eight degrees and New York is in the middle of a cold snap,\u201d Australia Sevens Men\u2019s coach Liam Barry said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe welcome back Maurice, Dietrich and James to the team and look forward to their input.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Maurice to play his 50th tournament in Vancouver is an incredible achievement for a player that has had a huge influence on this programme.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also a really special moment for Archie Saunders and his family as he looks to represent the Australian Sevens team for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The women\u2019s team welcome back Demi Kennewell (n\u00e9e Hayes) from an ACL injury, as Bridget Clark and Kiiahla Duff also make their way back into the squad. Coach Tim Walsh has opted to sit Teagan Levi, Kaitlin Shave and Bienne Terita<\/a> out of the tournament to keep the trio fresh for the World Championships in April.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are continuing the rotation of the squad before settling for the World Championship starting in Hong Kong,\u201d Walsh said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBridget Clark, Kiiahla Duff and Demi Kennewell return to the team for Vancouver with Alysia Lefau-Fakaosilea, Kaitlin Shave and Teagan Levi preparing in Sydney before meeting the team in New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur aim is to finish the regular series with precision and a ruthless edge, finalising all the pieces of the puzzle for a World Championship series performance reflective of the Aussie Sevens way.<\/p>\n

\u201cVancouver brings snow outside with a bouncy summer feel inside the indoor BC Place. It\u2019s one of the unique and true attractions of this beautiful sport and adaptability is an attitude and we choose to survey, adapt and perform.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia Women\u2019s Sevens team for 2025\/2026 HSBC SVNS Vancouver<\/p>\n

2. Amahli Hala \u2013 5 events
3. Faith Nathan \u2013 36 events
4. Mackenzie Davis \u2013 9 events
6. Madison Ashby (c) \u2013 29 events
9. Tia Hinds<\/a> \u2013 25 events
10. Isabella Nasser (c) \u2013 21 events
11. Demi Kennewell \u2013 28 events
12. Maddison Levi \u2013 31 events
13. Heidi Dennis \u2013 10 events
14. Bridget Clark \u2013 8 events
15. Kahli Henwood \u2013 9 events
28. Kiiahla Duff \u2013 8 events
65. Sariah Paki \u2013 39 events<\/p>\n

Australia Men\u2019s Sevens team for 2025\/2026 HSBC SVNS Vancouver<\/p>\n

1. Henry Hutchison<\/a> (c) \u2013 63 events
2. Ben Dowling<\/a> \u2013 24 events
4. Dietrich Roache \u2013 31 events
7. Josh Turner \u2013 41 events
10. Ben Dalton \u2013 13 events
11. Maurice Longbottom \u2013 49 events
13. Jayden Blake<\/a> \u2013 10 events
14. James Turner \u2013 22 events
23. Aden Ekanayake<\/a> \u2013 11 events
24. Ethan McFarland \u2013 4 events
33. Harry Wilson<\/a> \u2013 4 events
49. Archie Saunders* \u2013 debut
77. Wallace Charlie \u2013 5 events<\/p>\n

*Denotes possible debut<\/p>\n

Players unavailable for selection<\/p>\n

Will Cartwright (shoulder) \u2013\u00a02026\/2027 seasonCharlotte Caslick (pregnancy) \u2013\u00a02026\/2027 seasonMichael Icely (shoulder) \u2013 Hong Kong 7sHenry Paterson (knee) \u2013 2026\/2027 season <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia has turned to Waratahs speedster Archie Saunders in their squad for the Vancouver SVNS, with a star…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-504829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504829","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=504829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}