New Zealand Women's Sevens coach Sean Horan admits winning the gold medal at the Rio Olympics takes precedence over winning this year's Women's Sevens Series.
"It is all about the big picture. We are not here for World Series or World Cups. We are in an Olympic programme and that comes around every four years," Tauranga resident Horan said after training at Blake Park yesterday.
"The focus for 2016 was getting the squad ready for Rio and it would be great to win the World Series. Australia has jumped ahead pretty dramatically which is great for the game, but we believe 2016 is not going to be remembered for the series, it's going to be remembered for Rio. Our focus is to get a quality squad with depth that can do the job in August.
"We have had to learn and sometimes you have to lose to learn. We have taken as much as we can from other sports that have had that experience."