Rugby: Choices ahead for talented pair

Brad Weber (left) and Kieran Moffat, after playing in a sevens tournament in England recently....
Brad Weber (left) and Kieran Moffat, after playing in a sevens tournament in England recently. Photo supplied.
Otago sevens stars Kieran Moffat and Brad Weber will face a difficult choice if they reproduce their sevens form in the 15-man game.

Sevens will be introduced to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

But they would both like to be All Blacks and there could be a clash if they reach the elite standard.

They have just returned after a month playing in the United Kingdom Super Series in Europe, where they were members of the Templars team.

Five New Zealanders were in the team. The others were George Tilsley (Manawatu), Tufuga Sa (Canterbury) and Matt Clutterbuck (Northland), who captained Alhambra-Union to banner wins in 2006 and 2008, when he was studying in Dunedin.

They are among players being groomed for the New Zealand sevens team that will be defending its gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Scotland in 2014, and will be favourite to win the gold medal at the Olympic Games in 2016.

Weber is hedging his bets and will not make his decision between sevens and the 15-man game until closer to the time.

Moffat knows what his choice would be.

"It's been my boyhood dream to become an All Black," he said.

The Otago pair played in three tournaments with the Templars.

They reached the quarterfinals in Amsterdam and won the tournaments in Worthing, England, and Cardiff. The Templars were winning the series when they came home.

There were 16 corporate teams competing in each tournament. The other members of the Templars were from Wales, Scotland and Fiji.

"There were four strong teams in each tournament but the rest would compare with most provincial teams in New Zealand," Weber said.

Weber (21), a first-year student in applied science in sport technology at the University of Otago, grew up in Hawkes Bay and spent three years in the Napier Boys' High School First XV.

He was in the Hurricanes schools team and was a member of the Hawkes Bay ITM Cup squad last year.

Moffat (23), a psychology student at the University of Otago, came into Dunedin rugby with a good reputation last year after playing three years of premier rugby for Linwood in Christchurch.

He studied recreational management at Lincoln College, played for Canterbury age-group teams and was in the Crusaders development squad.

Both players are members of the Otago ITM Cup squad.

They both played club rugby on Saturday - Moffat for Taieri and Webber for Dunedin.

 

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