12 Apr 2016

Injuries hit NZ 7s side

4:51 pm on 12 April 2016

Sir Gordon Tietjens has been forced to call in three injury replacements to his New Zealand sevens side for the upcoming Singapore leg of the World Series.

Tim Mikkelson

Tim Mikkelson Photo: Photosport

Pita Ahki, Sam Dickson and Tim Mikkelson, and Lewis Ormond have all been ruled out with injuries following the Hong Kong sevens while DJ Forbes is also returning home as part of his plan to put him in the best shape for Olympic selection later this year.

Antonio Kiri Kiri, Josh van Leishout and Isaac Te Aute will fly to Singapore tonight as cover.

The All Blacks Sevens took second place at Hong Kong after losing to Fiji in the final. New Zealand has been drawn in Pool B for the Singapore Sevens and will play USA, France and Canada.

The team remains second in the series, one point ahead of South Africa and five points behind leaders, Fiji, with three tournaments left in the season; Singapore, Paris and London.