While New Zealand's Women have an impressive record having won the last three 15-a-side Rugby World Cups, the lack of regular Sevens played in the country was a concern for coach Darryl Suasua when assembling his squad.
But not many are in the fortunate position of being able to call on the likes of master coach Gordon Tietjens to help with the squad’s steep learning curve ahead of Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009. And that's exactly what Suasua did.
"He (Tietjens) has been in touch with me and has had some of the girls in his camp as well. When he is in a different area of New Zealand the girls are always welcome to go along and he will run them through everything his guys go through. It is a good experience," explained Suasua.
"I sent him a whole list of headaches with selection to get his advice on what he would do. He has been fantastic. He is pretty passionate, no doubt, and in particular not only men’s (Sevens) but women’s as well."
Not that Suasua is short on experience himself, having coached a lot of Sevens, including a stint as China's national coach.
"I love Sevens. I have a real passion so when the (New Zealand women’s coaching) position came up I thought it was a real opportunity to get back into Sevens and that has been exciting.
"A lot of the players had the idea it was non-contact. There was lots of myths and misconceptions on how it should be played."
Smooth preparation
Leading player Victoria Grant admits it was difficult adjusting to the shorter form of the game, but having Tietjens and Suasua around to guide the team certainly helped.
"He (Tietjens) is an awesome coach. He has been at a few of our tournaments over the past couple of months. His knowledge is huge. He has been a real asset."
Despite a smooth preparation Suasua is guarded about his side’s chances of becoming the first team in the men's or women's game to be world champions in fifteens and Sevens at the same time.
"It is hard to say if that is realistic, not knowing what the opposition is and what their strengths are. All we can do is really prepare the best we can," Suasua said.
"The girls are working really hard. They are really well prepared. It is an unknown but we definitely want to win."
Grant is quietly confident that all their hard work will pay off.
"Our goal is to win, our goal is to be number one. We have that little bit of an underdog status, but we won’t be taking anyone for granted.
"We will give our best each game and that is how we have been building in preparation and making sure we can handle whatever is thrown at us."
**WATCH RWC SEVENS 2009 LIVE AND ON-DEMAND THROUGH WWW.RWCSEVENS.COM! US$19.99 FOR A THREE-DAY PASS. SIGN UP NOW!**
