Australia’s next best crop of female Rugby Sevens talent will be on show in October as the Next Gen Sevens series returns across three rounds in 2024.
In an exciting move for 2024, the Next Gen Sevens Series will be integrated into the wider community women and girls’ Sevens events.
This exciting development will create three action-packed weekends of Sevens action in October, showcasing the incredible talent and passion of female rugby players.
The NSW Waratahs and Queensland Reds will clash in Sydney, Toowoomba and Byron Bay from October 5 with an Australia A Sevens team to be selected for various playing opportunities in 2024/2025.
Select members of Australia’s World Champion-winning Sevens team are set to cheer on and support the players following their series title victory in Madrid and Paris Olympics campaign.
Maddison Levi, Teagan Levi, Faith Nathan, Madison Ashby, Bienne Terita, Kaitlin Shave and Ruby Nicholas are among a plethora of talent that have come through the program since 2017.
Rugby Australia Director of High-Performance Peter Horne said: “Performance Pathways are critical in ensuring High Performance programs are successful at the highest levels of the game.
“The Next Gen Sevens competition provides the platform and opportunity for our future talented players to be exposed to high level competition.
“It’s crucial for players, coaches and support staff in selecting future teams for major tournaments and our overall success in the women’s program.”
Fresh off breaking the record for most tries scored at an Olympic Games, two-time Olympian Maddison Levi said she was eager to support both teams after playing in tournaments similiar previously.
“Playing in tournaments like the Next Gen Sevens allows young players to compete against other talent coming through the Australian Rugby Sevens system,” Levi said.
“When I played alongside some of my teammates in 2021 who are now in the Australian side, I was able to show coaches what I could do in a competitive environment and from there I went on to play at the Tokyo Olympics.
“Rugby Sevens is a constant evolving game and this year we saw players come into the Australian team and go on to play their first Olympic Games after coming through the Next Gen Sevens program.”
Levi’s Queensland side are the reigning champions, beating NSW and the Rising Stars last season on the overall points table.
Final squads will be released in the coming weeks.
Entry to the Next Gen Sevens is free with all matches to be streamed on rugby.com.au or Rugby Xplorer.
Round One – Saturday 5 October
Forshaw Rugby Park, Sydney – NSW
Round Two – Saturday 12 October
Toowoomba Sports Ground, East Toowoomba – Queensland
Round Three – Sunday 20 October
Byron Bay Rugby Union Club, Byron Bay – NSW
