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National | Liam Messam

Injured Messam joins All Blacks Sevens team

Liam Messam has joined his All Blacks Sevens team following his stint in Japan, but an injury will keep him from playing at the Wellington Sevens this weekend.

Messam injured his calf while playing for the Toshiba Brave Lupus in Tokyo. The question is, when will he be back?

Sir Gordon Tietjens says, “Liam has come into camp, back from japan, start to prepare for the World Series.”

The Canada Sevens will be held in March and Singapore Sevens in April. This will give Messam just over 2 months to prepare for him comeback to Sevens.

“Preparing him, getting in to Sevens mode. He knows the game, he understands, coming in this morning exciting to be here, so passionate, wants opportunity,” says Tietjens.

In 2004 he captained the New Zealand sevens teams to its fifth IRB Sevens World Series title when he was 20-years-old.

Messam also played in the New Zealand sevens teams that won gold at the 2006 and 2010 Commonwealth Games. But a lot has changed since then.

Tietjens says, “The game is different now, when Liam was playing, there were 2 or 3 teams now there’s 8. The types of athlete is different. Those are the challenges that we have.”