New Zealand's Savea withdraws from Olympic contention

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand's rugby sevens side suffered a major blow in their preparations for the Rio Olympics after loose forward Ardie Savea opted to withdraw from contention in order to concentrate on the 15-man game. The 22-year-old openside flanker had played in two tournaments in the sevens World Series in Wellington and Sydney before returning to Super Rugby duty with the Hurricanes. Savea had been expected to be available for the final two tournaments in Paris and London next month, which would have ruled him out of Super Rugby for at least a month, but New Zealand Rugby said on Sunday he would not vie for selection. "We're naturally disappointed that we can no longer call on the services of such a great sevens player," said NZR's general manager for rugby Neil Sorensen . "He could well have made a huge impact at Rio as he's a classy player and he proved that again in Wellington and Sydney. However, we understand his reasons. "As we said from the outset of our Rio programme, playing sevens was very much a personal choice for players." Savea was impressive in his two tournament appearances for the All Blacks sevens side, proving a handful at the breakdown in securing turnover ball. His ability to break tackles and run with the pace of a back was also important for the team. New Zealand won both the Wellington and Sydney tournaments in which they had all of their Super Rugby players available. They also won the Vancouver tournament with sevens specialists, though have struggled to dominate the tackle area without the Super Rugby players, who are typically bigger due to the greater contact in the 15-man game. The express pace of players from the United States and South Africa has also left them exposed out wide at times, while they have also been hit hard by injuries with at least five core members having problems ahead of Rio. Fiji lead the World Series on 147 points, having also won three tournaments. South Africa are second on 139 with New Zealand third on 135 points. Kenya won the latest stop on the 10-city circuit in Singapore last week. It was their first tournament victory. (Reporting by Greg Stutchbury, Editing by Peter Rutherford)