The Touch World Cup begins this Wednesday 22nd June in Edinburgh, Scotland and New Zealand’s contingent is ready to take on the World’s best. The Men’s and Women’s teams have arrived in the UK and are finalising their preparations.
 
The Touch World Cup event itself has come a long way from its beginnings in 1988 where to accommodate teams from the USA and Canada one forward (Gridiron-style) pass was allowed per set and along with the North Americans, Australia, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand were the only teams involved. By contrast, this World Cup in Scotland is the biggest yet with 28 teams from all over the world.
 
In 2011 New Zealand is being represented by our Men’s Women’s and Mixed Open teams (named the Touch Blacks) and the New Zealand 30 Mixed and 40 Men’s Masters Teams. New Zealand has competed in every World Cup and taken the Gold on five occasions including the Open Mixed and Over 30s Mixed at the last event in South Africa in 2007.
 
This campaign, the Mixed Touch Blacks feature the experienced Tabitha Mackenzie and Sean Brown – the pressure will be on the no.1 ranked team in the World to defend their title. With an injection of exciting youngsters in the team including Awhina Savage, Tiwi Davies and Clayton Ngawharau (who all recently played in the Youth Trans Tasman Series in Canberra, Australia) the team is primed for the challenge.
 
The Women’s Touch Blacks also feature a number of new faces to compliment some experienced players who have progressed through the junior ranks and are veterans in the sport despite their young age. Niall Williams is one of these players who along with Mere Nock and Rachel Stephenson will now step up to lead the Women’s team.
 
In contrast to the Women’s and Mixed Touch Blacks squads, the Men’s team features a solid core of players from the 2007 World Cup and recent Trans Tasman competitions. The likes of Nazea Silbery, Maurice Stone, Brendon Stewart, and Mita Graham have been in the Men’s Touch Blacks program for numerous campaigns and this World Cup will be the culmination of those efforts. Joining the contingent for this tournament will be Shaquille Stone (brother of Maurice) and Tivoli Guthrie (whose older brother Tama is also in the squad). Both players impressed at the Youth Trans Tasman Series and led their New Zealand Under 19 team in a victory over Australia.
 
Retaining the Championship that the team won in 2007 World Cup is the no. 1 priority for the 30 Mixed team. George Albert-Jahnke, Fletcher Prendergast and Annette Almond return from 2007 and will bring much needed experience to the team. The 40 Men’s  are lead by Peter Walters with Bruce MacDonald and Mike Daly helping to guide the charge to victory.