Tietjens: Added pressure as defending champs

In his latest column for irbsevens.com, New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens look ahead to a new HSBC Sevens World Series as defending champions.

Going into a new Series there is always added pressure being defending champions but it is not so much about defending that title, it is more about going out and winning it again, starting here in Australia.

It is a little different, going into three back-to-back tournaments which will be very mentally and physically challenging on the players, but we have some new players, and a new squad having lost a few players from last year including Charles Piutau and Joe Webber.

Charles is a midfielder from Auckland who I rate very highly. He has a lovely step, has played in the U20s and he certainly enjoys the game of Sevens which has a lot more space and he will be able to use his great set of skills which is awesome.

Another youngster, Joe, who is 18-years-old, he has just left school, but he has amazing talent and is very similar to Declan O'Donnell. He will get some game time and you will see a lot of this boy because he is also very very skillful. But our challenge is to get into game one and see what the other teams possess and kick on from there.

I personally believe that we have prepared really well and are really fully fit at the moment. What we have done differently is that we haven't gone to any tournaments as such to play as a side before these three and we have just competed against each other in camps which is the nearest to game time we have got.

Commitment

We needed to come to this tournament with a fully fit squad. I know a few teams who have had picked up a few knocks having played a tournament and if we had we would have played four tournaments in a row and I don't think some of the players could handle it.

After this first tournament here on the Gold Coast, who knows for the second and third, it is about committing yourself totally for this one and doing as well as you can and kicking on as the top two spots are always important now with the new pool draw.

You want to do well, but for us it is all about consistency and never looking too far ahead than the next game you play.

We have Kenya first up and they will be a dangerous side and these conditions will suit them and of course we also have Nieu who you can't underestimate, and obviously Fiji later on that night. There are no easy games in Sevens anymore.

The new stadium will be exciting too, it is a league stadium that hosts the Gold Coast Titans and although I have never been there I have heard a lot about it and I am really looking forward to being there.

I am also looking forward to the fact that there are quite a few Kiwis here on the Gold Coast so hopefully getting a bit more support will go a long way to assisting us in this tournament.