New Zealand Rugby receive 'clear' message over All Blacks stars ...

New Zealand Rugby have been urged to make changes and include their XVs stars in the wake of the men’s disastrous Olympic tournament.

The All Blacks Sevens impressed in the pool stages but were surprisingly eliminated in the quarter-finals by a resilient South Africa side.

That ruled them out of medal contention, leaving them to compete for the minor places during the remainder of the competition.

They eventually finished in fifth after overcoming Ireland 17-7, but their failure to pick up gold has resulted in an inquest back home.

New Zealanders watched on with envy as France hero Antoine Dupont inspired the hosts to Olympic glory, wondering whether some of the key All Blacks could have transitioned.

That was also the view of the nation’s sevens head coach, Tomasi Cama, who feels that seeing some more XVs stars in sevens “would be good for the game.”

“If All Blacks or Super Rugby [players] come and play sevens, it can inspire some other players that are thinking the only way to a Super Rugby [contract] or to the All Blacks is through playing 15s,” Cama told the New Zealand Herald.

“There is a pathway here. You can develop a lot of skills; with the skill sets here, you have to be good at all areas of the game. If those big names or players from the ABs came down and played, it would be inspiring for our programme as well, for those young ones coming through.”

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Cama’s opinion on XVs players moving across is known by the NZR hierarchy, with the head coach stating: “I generally make it clear.”

Rugby returned to the Olympics in 2016 after a 92-year absence and it inspired a few global stars to move across.

Sonny Bill Williams was included in the New Zealand squad, while the Ioane brothers, Rieko and Akira, were also selected.

However, both sports have moved on and it is arguably harder than ever to transition, while there is also the question of fairness after seeing the sevens players put in the hard work during the season.

“With the way we performed last season we really believe in our sevens boys,” Cama said. “We really believe in our programme and the people involved and we want to reward them as well for their hard work.”

The next Olympics is being held in Los Angeles in 2028 and Cama hopes that something can be worked out over the next four years to get the right structure in place to benefit everybody.

“It is always going to be good. We need to assess that. I would love to see that happen. It is a matter to talk to the right people and hopefully, we can make it happen,” he added.

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