New Zealand Rugby to hunt for new All Blacks Sevens coach as Tomasi Cama steps down

Monday, 8 June 2026

Tomasi Cama has stood down as All Blacks Sevens coach after three years in charge.

New Zealand Rugby will go on the hunt for a new All Blacks Sevens coach, with Tomasi Cama standing down from the job after a fruitless three years in charge.

The announcement came on Monday morning, just a few hours after the team had wrapped up their season with a 14-5 final loss to hosts France in Bordeaux in the third and final round of the SVNS grand finals series.

Ironically, it was the Kiwi men’s side’s best showing since their season-opening title win in Dubai in November.

That followed a horror 2024/2025 campaign, where legendary former coach Sir Gordon Tietjens blasted the wider men’s programme, as the All Blacks Sevens went on to make just one semifinal in the regular season to finish a record-low seventh on the standings, before a third-placing in what was then a one-off grand final.

Cama, appointed on a three-year contract, had taken over from now Hurricanes-coach Clark Laidlaw for the 2023/2024 season, where lowly ninth and 10th-placed tournament finishes were followed by back-to-back title wins in the final two rounds, before the team failed to medal in the grand final.

It meant, all up, including a quarterfinal exit at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Cama oversaw 25 tournaments, for just three titles and two runner-up finishes.

Tomasi Cama’s departure brings to an end a more than two-decades association with the All Blacks Sevens.

His departure will bring an end to a two-decade-plus connection with the All Blacks Sevens, who he debuted for in 2005 and enjoyed a glittering playing career with (remaining their all-time leading points scorer, and second-highest on the world series globally), and who he then spent half a dozen seasons with as an assistant coach.

“I’ve had some incredible opportunities through sevens and feel privileged to have represented the black jersey both as a player and a coach for more than 20 years,” Cama said in a statement announcing his exit.

“I care deeply about the players and the black jersey will forever be in my heart, but it’s time for somebody else to take the reins.”

Further in the statement, New Zealand Rugby high performance lead, Hannah Porter, thanked Cama for his service, and the “time and care” he had put into the jersey, noting he had “inspired a generation of players with his on-field performances and then shared his mana and knowledge as a coach with the next generation of young sevens stars”.

The new All Blacks Sevens coaching and management group will be confirmed next month, Porter said.

It will remain a big challenge for whoever is next at the helm. The men’s game has become a fiercely-competitive stage, with a host of teams capable of knocking one another over, with Argentina having been the dominant force the past couple of seasons, before South Africa this year pipped Fiji for regular-season honours, then did the double with claiming gold in the grand finals series.

But for a country with so much proud history in the game, further illustrating the recent struggles is that while there have been eight different nations contribute players to the tournament’s dream teams the past three seasons, there have been none selected from New Zealand.

Black Ferns Sevens superstar Jorja Miller was named women’s Player of the Year for a second-straight season.

Injuries have indeed played a big part, with depth at times tested, while there was at least the promising sign of Kele Lasaqa being named Rookie of the Year when the season-ending awards were dished out on Monday.

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Those accolades, meanwhile, included yet another for Kiwi superstar Jorja Miller, who was crowned women’s Player of the Year for a second-straight season.

“[It’s] an absolute honour to be named that once, but to get it for a second time, I’m stoked,” the 22-year-old said, after becoming just the third player, and second New Zealander, after Michaela Brake (2017, 2018), to be a double-winner of the award.

“But, honestly, all the credit goes to the girls around me. And I know it sounds a cliché, but without these girls, I wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t be able to succeed on the world stage. So this is a team award and I’m just proud of the team.”

Having cracked the 100-try mark in the penultimate round of the regular season in Vancouver, Miller then raised 50 for the season on day one in Bordeaux, and was duly named in the dream team for a third-straight year (alongside captain Risi Pouri-Lane, in what was her second-time running).

So what is the secret recipe to her success?

“Other than KFC,” Miller quipped, “I'd say I'm just really driven to be better, to be the best in the world. That motivates me every day. Being surrounded by people that want to be the best versions of themselves on and off the field drives that as well.

“I know I’m nowhere near where I want to be and there's so much more to go. So I’m excited for what that looks like.”

Having been crowned champions of the regular season, the Black Ferns Sevens were unable to back up the double feat they achieved last year, as fierce foes Australia exacted some revenge in the grand finals series.

A week after beating the Kiwis in the semifinals in Valladolid, the Aussies then scored a 26-19 win in the Bordeaux final to clinch the world championship crown.