But sevens has become a dedicated career option and many of New Zealand's regulars don't have time or opportunity to play any other form of rugby. The likes of DJ Forbes and Tim Mikkelson have be-come sevens specialists - players who have shelved any ambition to transition into Super Rugby.
The world circuit has grown to the point where the NZRU are offering 12 sevens contracts worth between $60,000 and $100,000 a year.
Winning two gold medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics is the second-highest strategic priority behind retaining this year's World Cup and in excess of $2 million has been set aside to help fund the men's and women's campaigns.
An announcement is expected soon on which current All Blacks will make themselves available for the abbrevi-ated game next year and there is no doubt the national body are committed to funding, promoting and supporting sevens.
The question needs to be asked - for what purpose? It's possibly a little harsh, but it would also be remiss not to ask whether New Zealanders really care about sevens.
If either or both of the New Zealand teams come up short of gold at next year's Olympics, will it be a national disaster?
Whereas, with several high-profile All Blacks - and there will be more - having confirmed they are leaving after the World Cup, Super Rugby is going to be challenged as it is. The new format and introduction of three new teams has New Zealand's franchises nervous about selling tickets and retaining fans.
If the tournament is further compromised by more big-name players being absent to play sevens, the damage to Super Rugby could be severe and lasting.
What's emerging is that sevens doesn't actually engage the audience on its own. The popularity of the Wellington Sevens has little to do with what happens on the field and everything to do with what happens off it.
That much became clear this year when ticket sales bombed. The novelty of dressing up, paying a small fortune for booze and tickets and then not particularly caring what happens on the field has worn off.
Sevens without the party is a bit like horse racing without the gambling. Were it not for the money wagered, would anyone really care if one horse was faster than another?
Having made nowhere near the revenue they expected, New Zealand Rugby are in the middle of a tournament review to see what can be done to bring people back to the Wellington event.
"Clearly there is a product life cycle for everything and we might have missed it in that life cycle," says NZRU chief executive Steve Tew. "In 2013, we sold out in five minutes on the internet and we had a full house for the two days.
"In 2014, there was more publicity around it being more of a party than a sporting event and there was more publicity around elements of behaviour that didn't help.
"The ticketing system didn't work and it collapsed for two hours when we were right in the middle of selling and we put the price up.
"We were subject to a harsh assessment by the police, I think, around the behaviours of the 2014 tournament when actually it was one of the better behaved tournaments.
"But we ended up with a damning headline in the Dominion Post on the Saturday which didn't reflect the debrief we'd had on the Friday night.
"Despite our best endeavours to drop the price and re-bundle it, we didn't sell the numbers of tickets we wanted [this year]. The feedback was that it was actually a more mellow crowd.
"It had got boisterous and young and that had been troubling us. We saw a lot more families and younger kids this year and we got a return of the more mature audience. It's not an easy fix."
