Sir Gordon Tietjens welcomed “one of the best in the world” back into his New Zealand sevens squad for next weekend’s Dubai Sevens as they seek to end a four-year drought in the competition.
Gillies Kaka was arguably the outstanding player as the All Blacks Sevens won the world series last season and then the World Cup in Moscow during the summer.
He missed the Dubai tournament 12 months ago, and was also a doubt this time around due to a shoulder injury.
However, he has recovered in time to be added to the tour party for the trip to the UAE and the South Africa Sevens, which follows a week after.
“With Gillies Kaka, a very good player, one of the best in the world, the player of the World Cup, it’s great to have him back from injury,” Tietjens told the All Blacks website.
New Zealand began the defence of their world series title in perfect fashion when they won the opening leg of the new season in Australia last month.
Kaka will be making his Dubai debut and he might be hoping the current wintry weather stays around until next weekend.
“I’m not really looking forward to the heat, but I’ve heard good things about Dubai,” he said.
“Everyone will be gunning for us as we set a high standard in Gold Coast, hopefully we can repeat that success in Dubai and Port Elizabeth.”
The fact that New Zealand have been without the Emirates International Trophy since 2009 may not represent a drought, exactly, given that a national team as strong as Fiji has yet to win it once.
However, the New Zealanders have been all-conquering everywhere else in that time, so they will think a return to the winner’s podium on Pitch 1 at The Sevens is overdue.
“Dubai supports us in a lot of ways with the expats that are there,” said Tietjens, who has overseen multiple series wins during the best part of two decades at the helm for New Zealand.
“There are heaps of Kiwis and it’s a great tournament to win. It’s a very tough pool with Kenya, the French and Portugal, and you have to beat every team to win it, so it’s going to be tough.
“But I am sure if our guys play to their potential and play with the real hunger we have displayed [at training] this week, they can go well.”
pradley@thenational.ae
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