Rugby sevens: Penalty solutions sought

New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens will be seeking to meet with Hong Kong rugby sevens match officials after his side was hammered in the penalty count at last weekend's Adelaide tournament.

Tietjens has pored over a video compilation of the penalties awarded against his side at Adelaide and said he would take any concerns to a meeting with match officials before the tournament kicks off on Friday.

New Zealand had to settle for the second-tier Plate final in Australia after being knocked out of the Cup in the quarterfinals by an in-form Samoa.

Tietjens was baffled at a lopsided penalty count that saw New Zealand concede 22 and be awarded just four in their first four matches.

In the quarterfinal they were penalised six times to Samoa's none.

"The players are puzzled. We talk about discipline and it's still happening. We were getting smashed in the penalty count over there," Tietjens said.

"We're still working through it but there's no doubt the officiating was below average from a lot of perspectives (in Adelaide).

"We want clarification on whether those rulings were right or wrong."

Samoa went on to win the final and cut New Zealand's lead in the world series to a slender two points with three stops remaining.

Tietjens said two dubious Samoan tries during their 24-19 extra-time quarterfinal triumph had undermined his under-strength side.

But there is no denying New Zealand's discipline was a contributing factor - particularly after Kurt Baker was yellow carded for dissent, to gift Samoa a man advantage in golden point overtime.

New Zealand also lost two players to the sin bin against Scotland and one in their final pool match against Argentina.

Leka Tupuola was also marched after the hooter in the Plate final against South Africa for a ruck infringement.

Despite losing to Samoa for the fourth time in the series, Tietjens was upbeat although he will miss the experience of two key performers.

Sherwin Stowers failed a fitness test on an ankle tweaked in Las Vegas while Lote Raikabula injured a bicep during training in Adelaide and remained sidelined.

"We're still going into Hong Kong with a lot of confidence," he said after naming the same squad as the one which fell short in Adelaide.

"I thought we performed pretty well, we had a tough draw and got the closest of anyone to Samoa."

The return of Save Tokula from suspension midway through the tournament provided an added attacking thrust while veteran Zar Lawrence has shrugged off a shoulder injury suffered in the dying stages of the Plate final.

New Zealand are grouped with France, Scotland and Chinese-Taipei - none are likely to pose a threat though Tietjens said the knockout stage would involve plenty of title contenders.

While Samoa was an obvious favourite, Fiji, South Africa and England could not be discounted even though they were relegated to the third-tier bowl competition in Adelaide.

"England love it here, they have a massive amount of support," he said.

"You just don't know. Any of the top six teams can do it. Fiji won it against predictions last year."

New Zealand squad: Paul Grant, Tim Mikkelson, Fritz Lee, DJ Forbes (captain), Leka Tupuola, Tomasi Cama, Save Tokula, Ben Souness, Toby Arnold, Nafi Tuitavake, Kurt Baker, Zar Lawrence.

NZ pool B schedule: March 26 v Chinese-Taipei 9.52pm (NZT); March 27 v France 6.04pm, v Scotland 10.28pm

IRB world series leading standings: New Zealand 96, Samoa 94, Fiji 74, Australia 62.

- NZPA