All Blacks sevens thinking outside the box for game time in 2020

Joe Webber of New Zealand is tackled by Henry Hutchison of Australia during the semi-final match between New Zealand and Australia. Photo / Getty Images

The All Blacks sevens coaching staff have used the Covid-19 lockdown as a chance to take stock both on and off the field.

The World Series is suspended, with the London and Paris legs currently postponed until September.

New Zealand is now planning towards a rescheduled Olympic Games in Tokyo, which has been pushed back a year to July 2021.

Coach Clark Laidlaw says they've only lost three games this season and made four of six World Series finals, so it's been great to see consistency come into their game.

"Tim Mikkelson was saying 'Imagine how good we can be in a year?' which I thought was a great positive spin on the Olympics being postponed. So the new challenge now is to park up and stay safe and stay healthy for a bit, but there's some little areas of our game and performance where we still think we can improve."

Laidlaw admits they may have to get creative nationally if they aren't able to resume their World Series campaign this year.

He says it's a real possibility they may not play abroad this year and they might need to think outside the box if they're to get some type of game time.

"If there's club rugby, if there's Mitre 10 Cup and Super Rugby at the back end of the year, I think we can be creative around still making sure staff and players are still involved in rugby to keep improving."

"New Zealand's vision is to inspire and unify New Zealanders and I think rugby can really play a massive part in that. The sevens players and staff want to play a part in that and to be involved in the communities and to be involved in rugby within the country, because I think that can play a massive part in getting us back on to what feels a bit more normal and give everybody something to watch on TV or get along to and get communities engaged again."

Laidlaw's confident the elder statesmen of the side will still be around come next year's Tokyo Olympics.

Co-captains Tim Mikkelson and Scott Curry will be aged 34 and 33 come July next year, while Kurt Baker will be 32 and Sam Dickson 31.

Laidlaw says they've all got at least one year if not more in them with the 2022 Commonwealth Games and World Cup already being discussed.

"We've certainly succession planned around those senior players and how long we think they can keep going and keep on improving."

"We've got some younger players; I think that's the really exciting part. Guys like Ngarohi McGarvey-Black, William Warbrick, Akuila Rokolisoa, Tone Ng Shiu and Andrew Knewstubb."

Laidlaw will be doing all he can to ensure his Super Rugby trio remain a part of their programme through to the Olympics.

Chiefs, Blues and Hurricanes outside backs Etene Nanai-Seturo, Caleb Clarke and Salesi Rayasi were released by their respective clubs to play on the sevens World Series circuit and at the Olympics this year.

It's uncertain whether they will be allowed to play sevens next year.

Laidlaw says a part from the fact he's loved having the trio and wants to retain them, he's yet to gain clarity on what next year looks like.

"We're under no illusions those boys have really added to the team."

"It sort of shows what we got right was the process we went through to identify who we wanted to come into the team, which was players that had been here before. They've really fitted back in seamlessly and contributed right from the start back in November."

"I guess there'll be some conversations between the Super Rugby clubs and us as to how we try and have a process that allows us to still put the best team out there come July 2021."