Rugby: Tietjens turns to youngsters

DJ Forbes, left, Lote Raikabula and Jack Goodhue at All Blacks sevens training at Blake Park yesterday. Photo / George Novak

The future of sevens merged seamlessly with the stars of today at the All Blacks Sevens training at Mount Maunganui yesterday.

The squad went through their paces under the watchful eye of Sir Gordon Tietjens on the field named in his honour at Blake Park.

Included were members of the wider training group who had been sharing the experience in camp with the main squad, along with two other players from last year's Condor Sevens secondary schools tournament team.

Tietjens said involving the younger players was crucial for building the game.

"A real key for us is to pick the team on form and if that means selecting a couple of new young boys in this team then that is building depth as well," he said.

"I have always said that I might have to take a couple of hits during this year to build that depth, even if it means in a world series, because if I am going to be self-reliant on that same 12 all the time, injuries are going to happen.

"There could be a couple of surprises to give players opportunities to build that depth."

Team captain DJ Forbes said planning for the future was fundamental to success.

"It is pretty obvious the old heads are not going to be around forever and the whole purpose of our culture is having a core group, where we can nurture a lot of these young guys that come through and get the best out of them," Forbes said.

"In a lot of codes you see young bucks coming through who are crashing and burning when the situation gets the best of them. Looking ahead to the Olympics, we want to have depth in our sport and this is the perfect way to bring in even schoolboys to get a taste."

Today Tietjens names the final cut of players to head to Tokyo next week for round six of the HSBC Sevens World Series. New Zealand hold a two-point lead over South Africa with four rounds to play.

"The next two rounds in Tokyo and Hong Kong are big for us," Tietjens said.

"We want to back up Wellington with a win in Japan. That is key for us."