With just two days to go until the final round of the 2013/14 IRB Women's Sevens World Series, the main focus is on whether the two top seeds, New Zealand and Australia, will leave Amsterdam with the coveted trophy.

But for New Zealand's Kayla McAlister and Sarah Goss, along with Australia's Emilee Cherry and Charlotte Caslick, there's an added prize, as all four have been nominated for the IRB Women's Sevens Player of the Year 2014 accolade. 

For Caslick and Cherry, it's just another experience they will go through together. The pair live together, room together, travel together and of course play very well together.

So if one walks away with they Player of the Year award will it cause friction?

"Hahaha! As long as she doesn't show the trophy around the house if she wins I don't mind," laughed Cherry. 

"We're in each others pockets the whole time so I know what she's going to do both on and off the field!"

Caslick, the youngest of the nominees at just 19, is a fan of her teammate and has a lot of good things to say about Cherry, who was named player of the tournament at the third round of the Series in Brazil.

"You can ask anyone in our team and they'll tell you how great it is to have Emilee on your team. She's always there, if you miss a tackle she'll make it for you. There's no one I'd rather have on my team," said Caslick.

The feeling is mutual for Cherry. "I was surprised that I was nominated, but never surprised that Charlotte was. She's so easy to play with, I'd pick her in any team to play alongside me. Charlotte is an amazing young talent and she's only 19 so there's so much more to come."  


LISTEN: Emilee Cherry, Charlotte Caslick, Sarah Goss and Kayla McAlister on being nominated for IRB Women's Sevens Player of the Year

New Zealand's prolific try scorer Kayla McAlister and her teammate Sarah Goss, who has been compared to their country's men's Sevens captain DJ Forbes for her work-rate, are also nominated and are pleased to be in the running for the award.

Not too unlike their Australian rivals, the pair have played alongside each other on many occasions and are complimentary of the other's skill sets.

"Sarah plays every minute of every game of every tournament!" said McAlister. "She's world-class and it's really good to see her going non-stop."

Goss added: "It's awesome, she's our x-factor player. She can get the ball from anywhere and score immaculate tries. I suppose she's just so quick on her feet it's so cool to have players on your team like Kayla that can make something out of nothing."

New Zealand are the defending champions, winning the inaugural title last year as well as the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow last June.

McAlister was named the inaugural IRB Women's Sevens Player of the Year in 2013 and has scored 20 tries this season to put her name forward again.

The former netballer only converted to Sevens in 2012, lured by the sport being added to the Olympics programme for Rio 2016.


The IRB Women's Player of the Year will be announced at the conclusion of the IRB Women's Sevens World Series finale in Amsterdam on Saturday. All the action from the Netherlands will be streamed live on wsws.irb.com.