Pacific Nomads Rugby 7s, Tamworth (2026)

Photos from Pacific Nomads Rugby 7s's post

29/08/2026

LA 7s Men’s Finals 🇺🇸

On this day four years ago, we did not know it at the time, but Pacific Nomads was being incubated in this moment.

In this photo are Nomads Cap No. 1 Loveni Enari, No. 2 Tyler Sisley, No. 3 Rob Newcomb, No. 6 Nico Gilli, No. 7 Tucker Trickey, No. 14 June Enosa and No. 15 Ari Flink.

We were playing inside an HSBC World Series stadium, just before the Australian men went on to win the World Series.

Coming out of country NSW, it was surreal. One week you are playing club rugby back home, and the next you are standing inside a World Series stadium on the other side of the world.

What makes this photo even more meaningful to me is something that happened on the way to the airport.

I was told by someone high up in 7s that these tours were not real and that nobody cared about them.

This was never about proving anyone wrong. It still is not.

But I knew in my heart that people did care.

I knew there were players in country towns and communities who wanted opportunities like this. Players who might never fit neatly into the traditional pathways, but who loved rugby, wanted to travel, wanted to test themselves and deserved the chance to experience where this game could take them.

Four years later, Pacific Nomads has completed more than 10 international tours and awarded almost 250 caps across our men’s and women’s programmes.

More than a dozen Nomads have gone on to represent their country.

Our Indigenous engagement has exceeded 25 per cent.

And in November, we will travel to the Cook Islands with five teams and a touring party of 78 people.

Along the way, we have managed to obliterate national averages in so many of the areas Australian rugby continues to identify as challenges.

Not because we had all the answers.

We simply chose to look at the game through a different lens.

We backed people. We created opportunities. We celebrated where players came from rather than worrying about where they had not been. We tried to make rugby feel like it belonged to everyone.

Perhaps the thing I am most proud of this year is that it is no longer just about Pacific Nomads.

We have worked with multiple other teams to help them get their own touring sides off the ground. Seeing more players travelling, more teams forming and more opportunities being created is exactly what this was always supposed to be about.

This year has truly been our best year yet.

And through all of it, rugby 7s is the real winner.

We have never backed away from the hard tournaments. We have taken our chances, sometimes taken our knocks, and kept turning up.

A huge thank you must go to Mr Jay Whyte from the Coral Coast Fiji 7s who took a chance on the group of guys mentioned above and gave us the opportunity to play at Coral Coast in 2023.

Moments like that matter.

Someone opening a door can change the direction of something forever.

Looking at this photo four years later, I realise this was one of those moments for us.

We just did not know it yet. 🩵🩷