All Blacks Sevens react to drawing 'pool of death' in Dubai

SVNS season is fast approaching and training is ramping up for the All Blacks Sevens squad, with eyes on a revamped inaugural title.

The men in black, who will be defending their 2023 series win, have been dealt an almighty challenge in the opening round, coming up against two of their strongest rivals in Dubai over the first weekend of December.

With the teams reduced to 12 for the new format tournament, only the best of the best will participate and each pool for the Dubai leg has a claim for the “pool of death” title.

New Zealand’s opponents will be 2023 Capetown champions, Samoa, and most recent Dubai victors, South Africa, along with Canada.

Incoming head coach and sevens legend Tomasi Cama says the reduction in teams to make for three pools of four rather than four pools of four will mean fans get nail-biting action and heavyweight hitouts right from the start of day one.

“I guess because of the format now with 12 teams and the way the draw has been set up with these few top teams in the same pool, I think it’s going to be good for the tournament,” he told SENZ.

“You’re going to see, consistently, good games, big teams playing each other in pool stages rather than waiting for day two. Which means there’s not going to be any easy games, we have to be on our toes from the get-go. So, we’re certainly looking forward to that.”

The New Zealand men will head into the competition with not just the 2023 series win but also the Oceania Sevens title under their belt, having won the competition in Brisbane earlier this month.

Given the high-intensity nature of sevens, Cama was pleased to see his team in damaging form just weeks out from the SVNS season opener.

“We were very happy, I mean we went over a week earlier to do our camp over there. We didn’t do a lot of rugby stuff, we just kind of let the boys play and see where they’re at around the game.

“But, overall we can see where they’re at physically and obviously around the game. Obviously playing Fiji, Samoa and Australia, we were happy the way we played against those three. Obviously, they’re all top six in the world as well so, pretty happy with where we’re at around our prep, even the way we played last week to manage to come away with a win, can give us a bit of confidence going into Dubai.”