Gordon Tietjens

The sixth edition of the tournament takes place at Pakuranga rugby club this weekend, with some of the country's best school boy and girl talent on display.

For the first time a NZ Asian Barbarians team has been entered and they've managed to get a sevens great on board, with Sir Gordon Tietjens joining the coaching team.

The competition started in 2016 when Rugby Australia wanted to develop their high school sevens players and asked New Zealand Rugby if they wanted to create an event.

Sir Gordon spent 22 years in charge of the All Black Sevens, winning four Commonwealth Games gold medals, two World Cups and 12 World Series titles before taking charge of Samoa's national team in 2017.

But during his three year tenure, the outgoing coach had limited success, failing to win a tournament and making only one cup final.

Now he's stepping down from his contract which expires at the end of August.

Despite a misfired attempt to secure Olympic qualification, Sir Gordon said he did everything he could to bring success to the island nation.

CEO Faleomavaega Vincent Fepuleai said the decision for Sir Gordon to step down as coach was made together.

"Gordon's contract runs out in August and there's nothing happening before that, and then the Board has decided that together collectively with Sir Gordon that Sir Gordon will step down at the end of his contract," Faleomavega said.

The CEO said the SRU had also come under pressures due to the global Covid-19 pandemic.

Samoa made their best start to the World Sevens Series during an emotional December weekend in Dubai, which saw the team dedicate their performances to their country.

Samoa's measles epidemic claimed the lives of 83 people in Samoa, and Tietjens paid tribute to the team playing through.

"For us to perform in Dubai under all that was unbelievable really because they were really challenged mentally as a team because I think all the players in the Samoan team knew people that had been affected by the measles epidemic," he said.

After a dismal couple of seasons, Samoa is now a regular contender in tournament quarterfinals, having placed 4th last weekend in Hong Kong, following the high of second place in Las Vegas.

Sixth in the standings prior to this weekend's Singapore Sevens, Sir Gordon said his players had come to understand the level of fitness that's required of them.

"What it's been I think is the consistency around our conditioning. We've worked particularly hard," he said.

The two coaches have criticized each other over the handling of All Black fullback Ben Smith in the lead up to the tournament, Tietjens wanted him to play at least two tournaments before the Olympics while Hansen didn't think that wasn't necessary because of his Smith's caliber.

Smith last played sevens when he won gold at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games but Tietjens said the game has changed a lot since then.

In his new book Legacy, Tietjens accuses Hansen and All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster, along with New Zealand Rugby boss Steve Tew, of not giving him the support he needed to lure the likes of Ben Smith, Ardie Savea and Beauden Barrett across to the national sevens team for the Rio campaign.

New Zealand failed miserably at the Olympics after they were knocked out by Fiji at the quarterfinal stage.

Tietjens questioned the governing body's leadership in a year when it publicly stated Olympic gold for both the men's and women's teams were dual priorities.

The Manu lost all of their pool matches at the Wellington tournament last weekend and finished in 13th place, the same position they sit on the World Series standings.

Samoa Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi who is also Chair of the Samoa Rugby Union, visited the team at their hotel on the weekend to lend his support.

Tietjens said the team appreciated the gesture.

"They realise that it's not a quick fix about getting this team up and running again and getting them up to where they'd like to be," he said.

The Suva Sevens has a nice ring to it.

Former New Zealand sevens coach Gordon Tietjens, now in charge of the Samoan sevens team, has suggested taking the Wellington Sevens to the islands following their dire crowd numbers this past weekend.

He told 1News that a country like Samoa or Fiji would love to host a tournament on the World Rugby Sevens Series.

Just 18,000 out of a possible 70,000 are believed to have attended the annual Wellington event.

When New Zealand kick off their Wellington Sevens campaign on January 28, a familiar face will be plotting their downfall from the opposition bench.

Gordon Tietjens, New Zealand's sevens coach of 23 years, takes over as head coach of the Samoan sevens programme from January 1.

His first mission on the rugby field will be a 1.41pm Pool C match against his former side at Wellington's Westpac Stadium.

Standing on the other side of halfway will be two of Tietjens' former players in Tomasi Cama and Scott Waldrom. For 14 minutes they will be anything but friends.