One interesting observation on the ever-growing IRB Sevens World Series, and even here on the biggest stage of all at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai, is the growing tendency for coaches to opt for proven Sevens practitioners in pursuit of glory.
Should Sevens get the Olympic green light in October, rugby's top stars have all made it clear that the Games would represent a career pinnacle, but would New Zealand's peerless coach Gordon Tietjens select Dan Carter and Richie McCaw, even if he could?
Increasingly, the likes of Tietjens and his English and South African counterparts Ben Ryan and Paul Treu are picking players they know can cope with the particular fitness and skills demands of the shorter game, and that means those who already play Sevens.
If they had their pick of the top club players it's clear that certain marquee names would start filtering through but all have made it clear that modern Sevens is a different ball game that very few of the 15-a-side stars could cope with.
Bok masterplan: Sevens utopia
South Africa's tireless Sevens coach and former captain Treu has taken things to extremes, contracting a core squad based in Stellenbosch who only play and train for Sevens.
This season Fabian Juries and Schalk van der Merwe moved on to Super 14 but Gio Aplon, Mzwandile Stick and Ryno Benjamin went the other way and signed up, while youngster Robert Ebersohn took his father's advice and shelved his 15-a-side aspirations in favour of building a solid skills set on the World Series.
Tietjens also has a centrally contracted batch whose primary income is from the Sevens game. Kenya, too, have half a dozen semi-professional Sevens specialists.
Having failed to ignite their challenge in the previous two seasons, England lie joint top in the World Series after adopting a similar plan of attack.
Most of the big names have gone - James Haskell, Tom Croft, Luke Narraway, Danny Care, Mathew Tait, David Strettle, Ugo Monye and the former captain Simon Amor to name a few - replaced by players unknown to even the most ardent fans in England. Tom Varndell has returned for the World Cup offensive, but he represents the icing on the cake: extra firepower in a squad of unsung heroes.
Zero to hero
Kevin Barrett, Ben Gollings, Tom Biggs and Ollie Phillips have stood tall in the backs, while the forward charge has been led by Fijian-born Army private Isoa Damu, Chris Cracknell and Rob Vickerman, with back-up from James Rodwell. None of them plied their trade in the Guinness Premiership at the start of the season, but Damu has been the first to benefit from the extra exposure afforded by the Series' generous TV coverage.
"If he's not the best Sevens player in the world at the moment, he's got to be in the top three," said coach Ben Ryan, who has long known the softly spoken Fiji giant from his spell in charge at Newbury.
"He's just signed for London Wasps and I think they will see exactly what he can bring for them," added Ryan, who retains the ability to pick Damu for England Sevens duty should be wish.
"He's staggeringly good with the ball and if they get him conditioned for their type of game he can go on and be a real success in the division. Right now, though, he's been brilliant for us in every facet of the game and he's one that I'd pay money to watch."
Ryan is now confident that many of his players can follow in Damu's footsteps.
"They're not household names back home but I'm pretty proud of their efforts because none of them have really landed on their feet in the professional game and they've had to work really hard for it.
Work ethic paying dividends
"Once you work hard for something you don't want to let go of it and they feel lucky that they're in the position they're in and want to make the most of it.
"They've got themselves very fit and they're very easy to coach because they pretty much do whatever I ask and we've empowered them quite a lot and some of the older players have helped them along their way as well."
England face Samoa first up on the final day of competition in Dubai and, if they progress in the tournament, could meet Fiji in the Cup final. Interestingly, the islanders, best known for their love of Sevens, have drafted an all-star cast of players currently better known in the 15-a-side game.
Vilimoni Delasau, Neumi Nanuku, Napolioni Nalaga, Semisi Naevo and Apolosi Satala have all played Sevens before, hence their selection, but now regularly wow the crowds in the French Top 14 and Japan's J League. Some of them have played no Sevens since winning the Melrose Cup four years ago in Hong Kong but all showed on day two that they are warming to the task.
Can they once again revert seamlessly to the abbreviated form, or will the new generation of Sevens specialists from the rest of the world wrestle the Cup away from them at Sevens rugby's biggest ever occasion?
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