KEY POINTS:
New Zealand have been dealt a blow on the eve of the International Rugby Board world sevens series with captain Tafai Ioasa ruled out of the Dubai tournament.
Ioasa twisted his knee when he landed awkwardly in training on Thursday and has been replaced for this weekend's tournament by Waikato winger James Kamana.
It is further frustration for Ioasa, who missed six of the eight tournaments last season with a knee injury.
Coach Gordon Tietjens said it was the 27-year-old forward's other knee that suffered the damage in a "freakish accident".
"The funny thing was we never had the ball, he was just competing in the team's lineout and twisted his knee, that's really the extent of it," Tietjens said.
"He wasn't being tackled, just coming out of a lineout so it was quite a freakish accident really.
"It is quite disruptive, he is our captain, he was keen to get back playing in the World Series after he missed six tournaments last year, so it was quite disruptive for the other players."
Tietjens was still to decide whether Ioasa would fly to South Africa for the second tournament at George next week, "but at the moment indications are it possibly doesn't look too good".
DJ Forbes will take over the captaincy, something he did in the six tournaments Ioasa missed last season as New Zealand came from behind to win the final two events and pip Fiji to claim a seventh series title in eight years.
New Zealand have already travelled to Dubai without their IRB sevens player of the year Afeleke Pelenise, the scorer of 41 tries in the 2006-07 series.
- NZPA
