Pacey Anesi adds the missing ingredient to Sevens side

New Zealand Sevens coach Gordon Tietjens is confident that in Sosene Anesi he has found the raw pace that was missing in his side last year.

The Chiefs and Waikato winger recorded 4.53s over 40m from a standing start during last week's trials, making him the fastest player Tietjens has seen during his 10-year tenure.

Despite claiming a fifth consecutive IRB Sevens World Series title in June, Tietjens felt his side struggled to put opponents away at times because of a lack of an out and out "flying machine".

New Zealand only won two of the eight tournaments, falling to teams who were loaded with strike runners capable of scoring long range tries.

Tietjens said: "When I look back, the fastest player we ever tested was Joeli Vidiri and then it was Roger Randle. Then it was Joe Rokocoko and now it's Sosene Anesi. So maybe they are getting quicker. He did ten 40m sprints with a 30s recovery and the first five were under five seconds.

"In the past, the New Zealand Sevens team has had to be so much more patient than the other teams and play so much more rugby because we have not had the pace to score tries. But now having someone like Sosene we know we can put him into space and he can go the length of the field.

"Sometimes you can get players who are very, very quick off the mark, but they don't show the same speed at game time. The very first question I ask when I'm doing my homework on a rugby player is about his speed. Pace is a huge ingredient. You only get one or two opportunities so you have got to be able to score tries."

The squad, which will begin the defence of its title in Dubai against Canada on Friday morning New Zealand time, may now have a genuine flier - but is perhaps a bit lighter on experience compared with previous years.

Gone from last year's team are sevens veterans Eric Rush, Craig de Goldi, Justin Wilson, Matua Parkinson and Karl Temata.

But it is the challenge of leading a young, inexperienced team and a side that is continually evolving that has kept Tietjens' passion alive after more than 10 years in the job.

"I certainly love the game of XVs and if the opportunity is there I would certainly love to coach XVs. I would like to get back in at whatever level but I'm still enjoying sevens, largely because I have different players every year. I lose them year in year out so what you are doing is bringing on new younger players and encouraging them to have a professional training ethic and give them some opportunities to play for New Zealand.

"I think sevens has got so much to offer. If you look at New Zealand from their game against Wales. Joe Rokocoko and Mils Muliaina scored the tries and they were prominent sevens players for me. That is where they learnt their trade.

"Some coaches are against it because they believe their players will lose muscle mass because there is so much running in our training. I'm also really conscious that they don't and we spend more time in the gym than we ever have. Sevens is very confrontational now."