Wellington 7s

“Wellington is pretty important
to us, we are working hard
behind the scenes to do well.”
Tim
Mikkelson
Tim Mikkelson, the All Blacks
Sevens captain, knows his side
may be down but they are not out
of this year’s HSBC World Series.
Wellington is a vital tournament for the side as it
attempts to regain its equilibrium after the worst
run of injuries Mikkelson has ever seen the side
suffer.
Mikkelson was a victim when suffering concussion in
Dubai and being forced to sit out the second leg. But
having recovered he has enjoyed being back in full
training and looking at the challenges ahead.
Being Olympic Games year, there was an extra
element for all teams to cope with and New Zealand
was no different.
“It’s exciting times and we have got some
experienced All Blacks and Super Rugby players
coming in who are keen to learn.”
“They are asking a lot of questions. It is exciting
helping out guys and getting them to know all the
moves and through Titch’s training sessions.
“Wellington is pretty important to us, we are
working hard behind the scenes to do well. I think
we’ve learnt some great lessons from those first
two tournaments that we can use going into the
Wellington and Sydney tournaments,” he said.
Mikkelson has not been surprised by the closing
up of standards. The United States won the last
tournament of last year’s series. It was now a case of
any team on its day being capable of winning.
What was important was being in contention until
the last minute of every game.
“It comes down to critical moments in the game and
that is why we are working so hard just trying to
make sure we get the little things right in our game,”
he said.
New Zealand at their best needed to be a physical
side in their ball carrying, their tackling, their setting
of rucks in attack and being hard on defence to
create attacking chances.
“There’s been a bit more in training and everyone
is putting their best foot forward. You can see Titch
is trying new stuff and the boys are excited to go to
training every day,” he said.
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