Rugby: Seamless transition helps NZ land Wellington crown

New Zealand's Tim Mikkelson. Photo / Mark Mitchell

One of the key factors to New Zealand's dominance of the sevens game is their ability to quickly integrate new players into their squad, says Waikato flyer Tim Mikkelson.

That ability and team spirit came to the fore during the weekend in the Wellington leg of the World Sevens Series, when the Kiwis lost backline-regular Toby Arnold to a knee injury in the opening game against Scotland.

Arnold's injury thrust debutant Mark Jackman into the fray and the Ashburton product produced a solid display for the remainder of the tournament as New Zealand claimed back-to-back titles in the capital with a 24-7 win over Fiji in the final.

"It was huge when we lost Toby Arnold. He's been one of the big players - he's been to the Commonwealth Games," Mikkelson said.

"But Jackman came in and he was huge. He learned on the field and he just had a huge tournament and really stepped up.

"A lot of new guys come in to the team and they just get straight into it. They ask questions and we put them in different positions and they learn the moves from everyone so when something does happen they can step in and Mark did that and had a huge tournament."

New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens has proved a master at dealing with comings and going during the past few years because as soon as someone stars for him they are picked up by a Super Rugby franchise and are rarely seen again in a Sevens jersey.

Another who cannot be far away from leaving the ranks is Waikato's Frank Halai. The 1.95m wing impressed for New Zealand during the weekend as he scored six tries in the tournament to take his series tally to 24 from four tournaments.

Mikkelson said his Mooloo teammate was a wrecking ball on attack.

"He's been around and it's his second year now and he just keeps on getting better and better.

"He's the top try-scorer in the IRB sevens and I think he'd fit in to any Super 15 squad nicely," he said.

New Zealand will be without Arnold and Hosea Gear for next weekend's Las Vegas tournament. Gear will be replaced by Taranaki's Waisake Naholo but Arnold's replacement was not expected to be confirmed until Tietjens names his squad today.