Young guns have the goods

A fresh-faced New Zealand sevens team will front up in Wellington today, but coach Gordon Tietjens says his young charges have the goods to defend their title.

Tietjens will field five newcomers when the third leg of the IRB series kicks off at Westpac Stadium.

New Zealand are aiming for their third straight win in the capital.

Tietjens said his 12-man squad was one of most inexperienced he had named in the 11 years since taking the coaching reins, but the skill levels were impressive.

"For our first tournament with seven young players, we've come together pretty well," he said.

"If we put their skill levels together, plus the experience of a couple of older heads, we've got the side to do the job for us.

"The squad are the form players from the nationals and training camps, but we've been training together for only about three weeks."

Tietjens has retained just four players from the season-opening tournaments in Dubai and South Africa late last year.

New Zealand rolled Fiji 33-19 in the South African final to avenge their semifinal loss to their Pacific rivals in Dubai.

New Zealand are first-equal in the series with Fiji and England.

After tomorrow's final, the teams head to Los Angeles next week, followed by a further three tournaments before the series ends in France in June.

Unlike New Zealand, Fiji and England have a relatively settled side.

Just three Fijians make their debut in Wellington, and England - winners in Dubai - field only two newcomers.

Making their sevens debut at the Cake Tin are Auckland's Isaia Toeava, Otago's Edwin Cocker, North Harbour's Marc Camburn and Wellington's Tamati Ellison and Nigel Hunt.

Liam Messam captains the side. He, Orene Ai'i, Amasio Valence and Tafai Ioasa are the only players fronting from the opening two tournaments.

"With such a young squad there's always nerves, but there's always a high level of excitement when playing in your home tournament," Tietjens said.

"There's lots of enthusiasm - they just really want to get out there.

"I don't think we could be any better prepared than where we are.

"It's just about fronting one game at a time and it's important that we start the tournament well with an impressive game against Kenya, then the United States, so we can go into our final pool game against Fiji with a lot of confidence."

Fiji, who finished fourth in the 2003-04 series, and England loom as the greatest threats to a potential New Zealand hat-trick.

Former Crusaders winger Marika Vunibaka captains Fiji, who include Hawkes Bay flyer Nasoni Roko.

England started the series strongly with their Dubai victory and welcome back IRB sevens player-of-the-year Simon Amor from injury.

Senior players Rob Thirley and Ben Collings also come with impressive reputations.

One Samoan player familiar to New Zealand fans through his time with the Blues and the Highlanders is destructive tackler Brian Lima, who is bound to cause some headaches for the opposition.

- NZPA 

The Sevens action 

NZ squad

Orene Ai'i, Isaia Toeava, Amasio Valence (Auckland), Tanerau Latimer (Bay of Plenty), Marc Camburn, Hayden Reid (North Harbour), Edwin Cocker (Otago), Liam Messam (Waikato, captain), Tamati Ellison, Tafai Ioasa, Nigel Hunt, Roy Kinikinilau (Wellington).

Today

Day One:

1.00pm Argentina v Tonga
1.22pm Australia v Cook Islands
1.44pm S Africa v Scotland
2.06pm France v Japan
2.28pm England v Canada
2.50pm Samoa v Niue
3.12pm New Zealand v Kenya
3.34pm Fiji v US
3.56pm Argentina v Cook Islands
4.18pmAustralia v Tonga
4.40pm South Africa v Japan
5.02pm France v Scotland
5.24pm England v Niue
5.46pm Samoa v Canada
6.08pm New Zealand v US
6.30pm Fiji v Kenya
6.52pm Tonga v Cook Islands
7.14pm Scotland v Japan
7.36pmCanada v Niue
7.58pm Kenya v US
8.50pm Argentina v Australia
9.12pm South Africa v France
9.34pm England v Samoa
9.56pm New Zealand v Fiji

Tomorrow

Day Two:

1.00pm to 2.32pm Bowl quarter-finals
2.33pm to 4.09pm Cup quarter-finals
4.10pm to 4.53pm Shield semifinals
4.54pm to 5.37pm Bowl semifinals
5.38pm to 6.34pm Plate semifinals
6.35pm to 7.29pm Cup semifinals
7.30pm Shield final
8.00pm Bowl final
8.30pm Plate final
9.00pm Cup final

Pools

A: England, Samoa, Canada, Niue
B: New Zealand, Fiji, Kenya, United States
C: South Africa, France, Scotland, Japan
D: Argentina, Australia, Tonga, Cook Islands.

Sevens standings

New Zealand 32
Fiji 32
England 32
South Africa 20
Argentina 18
Samoa 14
Australia 6
Kenya 4
Scotland 4
Tunisia 4
Portugal 2
Arabian Gulf 0
Canada 0
France 0
Uganda 0
Ireland 0
Live on TV One today and tomorrow from 12.30pm