This is a tough one.

The Kiwis made the final on the Gold Coast just one week earlier and there was only one change to the squad (injured Scott Curry replaced by returning international Ben Souness).

In theory the change was minor. Curry is not a starter in the New Zealand side and Ben Souness was a starter when he last played for New Zealand during the 2010-2011 season.
[Souness had taken a year off Sevens to concentrate on 15-a-side].

Gordon Teitjens is not one to have ‘off’ days.

DJ Forbes, Lote Raikubula, Tomasi Cama and Tim Mikkleson don’t tend to all have off days at the same time.
[The supporting cast included veterans Solomon King and Toby Arnold]

So what happened?

The short of it was the Kiwis were beaten by a very sharp, in-form England side and then started their bench against Australia and got a hiding.

• The New Zealand bench is just not as good as it was in previous seasons
• The new Australian team has developed at a remarkable pace

V England (Cup Quarter Final)

England would have watched the tape from last week very very closely and analysed just how Fiji managed to shut down the Kiwis, in particular key playmaker Tomasi Cama.

England are a well-disciplined unit capable of executing a game plan. Coach Ben Ryan is astute at coming up with tactics to combat talented players – his team did it against Fiji in the Semi-final in Dubai.

Were New Zealand that easy to read (and thwart)?

There was a lack of penetration in their attack. There was no Declan O’Donnell or Buxton Popoali’i to spark something.

In the performance against Australia, it looked like the young players who took the field had not played a lot with each other.

Sevens is a game of rhythm and the young Kiwis didn’t have it. They failed to string together the types of passes and runs that could break down the Australian defense while their own defense was leaking like a sieve – again, down to a lack of communication, trust and teamwork.

Is there a deeper problem?

Hopefully not and Gordon Teitjens is way too successful not to be able to rally the troops for the South African Sevens.

But there are some differences in the way the top teams are managed these days.

South Africa and England have professional contracted sevens squads.

New Zealand has contracted players but they are not selected until into the new year.

The squad that is gathered for the first tournaments of the year is dispersed and then re-groups after the New Zealand national sevens tournament in the new year. Contracts are divvied out then.

Also, the initial squad is not named until after the (15-a-side) Super Rugby squads for the following February have been determined. Often there are 1-2 players from the previous sevens squad who are named and therefore not available (like David Raikuna and Declan O’Donnell this time around and Kurt Baker, Sherwin Stowers  and Fritz Lee last year).

Bottom line: The quality of the second stringers is not as good as it was last year. Apart from Raikuna and O’Donnell being away, Bryce Heem and Buxton Popoali’i are also absent.

Popoali’i had a blinder at the Wellington Sevens last year and was looking every bit the heir apparent to Tomasi Cama.

The New Zealand rugby public expect Teitjens to find the next Jonah Lomu or Christian Cullen to replace players who have moved on but little thought is given to how difficult a task this is or what it takes to develop sevens ability.

With the Olympics in sight, this is not the time for the New Zealand rugby union to take their eye off the ball. They need to take a closer look at how they develop and manage sevens rugby talent.

The time of the Kiwi could be up if more care and attention is not afforded to the abbreviated format of the game in New Zealand.