Tietjens focused on Fiji

New Zealand Sevens coach Gordon Tietjens said he was solely focused on beating Fiji in what could be a tough Cup quarter-final in the San Diego leg of the International Rugby Board (IRB) Sevens World Series on Sunday.

New Zealand Sevens coach Gordon Tietjens said he was solely focused on beating Fiji in what could be a tough Cup quarter-final in the San Diego leg of the International Rugby Board (IRB) Sevens World Series on Sunday.

“I don't really think about the records much but someone reminded me this week and if we can win the rest of our matches we'll go past the 35 unbeaten [achieved in 2002 by NZ] but for now we're just looking at playing a quarter final against Fiji,” said Tietjens.

Although they didn't accumulate as many points as they did in Wellington last week, New Zealand did not concede even one try in the Pool stages of the San Diego tournament on Saturday.

A more than pleased Tietjens has always maintained that a team with a solid defence would always come out tops in Sevens.

What was also significant about New Zealand's day one performance was that the whole squad was involved, which might explain the lower winning margins. However Tietjens felt that his replacements did exceptionally well.

“It's always pleasing to go unbeaten on day one. I've also been able to give all my players a start today, which I wasn't able to do in Wellington so that was awesome,” explained Tietjens.

“The likes of Solomon King and Tomasi Cama have really stood up and that's very good because it means there's a competition for places, which is always healthy,” added Tietjens.