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Live sport on SN this weekendHow new coach Willie Rickards plans to revitalise All Blacks Sevens
Savannah Lendich Jonkers • August 7th, 2026 2:40 pm
Sofai Notoa-Tipo | Photo: Chris Wong/Photosport
New All Blacks Sevens coach Willie Rickards says building consistency and restoring sevens pathways will be key to getting New Zealand back toward the top of the world game.
Rickards, who was announced on Thursday as the new head coach, played for the side from 2006 to 2009 and will lead a new coaching group featuring former captains Liam Messam and Scott Curry until the end of 2028.
“I'm really excited,” he told Sport Nation Breakfast on Friday.
“I just feel really grateful to have the opportunity to lead your country and a team that I really care about too. It's a proud moment for me personally and a proud moment for my family.”
Liam Messam on revitalising All Blacks Sevens | Sport Nation Afternoons
While the Black Ferns Sevens have remained a benchmark on the world stage, have continued their dominance, the men's NZ sevens national programme has struggled.
Their triumph in Dubai in December was their first since Singapore back in May 2024. Their last championship came in the 2022/23 season.
Rickards said consistency would be his immediate focus, as the side transitions into a new era.
Willie Rickards | Photo: Photosport
“I very much believe that if we can get consistency off the field, we'll get consistency on the field," he explained.
"What I mean by that is consistency in our programme, consistency in our weekly plans, our daily schedules, consistency personally and individually around high performing habits and staying disciplined to those."
Rickards brings exceptional sevens experience to the role. He's previously served as an All Blacks Sevens assistant and has also coached at NPC level with Taranaki.
He said he is also excited by conversations within New Zealand Rugby about strengthening the domestic sevens programme and building an aligned pathway.
“Everyone's really excited about getting in the room and coming up with an aligned plan around how we move forward, what our domestic programme looks like and ultimately our path through to the Olympics.”
All Blacks Sevens at the last sevens event in New Zealand in 2023 | Photo: Jeremy Ward/Photosport
He highlighted that before the Covid-19 pandemic, New Zealand had both a strong domestic sevens programme and a World Series event on home soil.
“Pre-Covid, we had a really good programme and system here. Post-Covid, certainly like a lot of industries as you guys will know, sport and in particular the sevens in New Zealand had to re-strategise, had to be flexible, had to look at having to certainly cut things up a little bit differently.”
Listen to the full interview below:
