Faced with something of an injury crisis, the New Zealand rugby sevens team has turned to Twitter to tee up a new recruit: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
The deal – which would make a mockery of the team’s selection process if it were not almost certain not to eventuate – was brokered by All Black Sonny Bill Williams.
Johnson tweeted last week that he “played rugby as a kid” in New Zealand, where he lived for a short time with his mother’s family, saying it was the “Toughest sport I’ve ever done.”
Dual international Williams invited Johnson, 43, to join the Kiwi sevens team, currently depleted by injuries with two tournaments in the world series remaining.
The “injury crisis ... is enveloping the New Zealand sevens team”, Fairfax New Zealand reported, with kick-off to the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games fewer than four months away.
Before the tournament in Singapore earlier this month, New Zealand were forced to call up replacements after Pita Ahki (shoulder), Sam Dickson (leg), Tim Mikkelson (ankle) and Lewis Ormond (foot) all pulled out.
Fortunately, Johnson seems happy enough to be kept on standby.
After a disappointing tournament in Singapore, in which they lost to Samoa in the plate final, New Zealand dropped to third in the overall standings with events in Paris and London still to go before the Olympics begin on 5 August in Brazil.
It will be the sevens’ maiden appearance at an Olympic Games and is likely to provide New Zealand with a stiff challenge after the Hurricanes loose forward Ardie Savea pulled out of the team on Sunday to focus on the 15-man format of the game.
New Zealand Rugby’s general manager, Neil Sorensen, said it was disappointing that Savea would not be available for the team as “he could well have made a huge impact at Rio”.
“However, we understand his reasons,” he said. “As we said from the outset of our Rio program, playing sevens was very much a personal choice for players. You’re never going to get the best out of any athlete by forcing them to play against their wishes.”
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