Fears that some players might be undone at the 'most competitive Hong Kong Sevens ever' have prompted New Zealand mastermind Gordon Tietjens to question the International Rugby Board's decision to allow teams only the usual three substitutes per game.
'The nature of this year's Hong Kong Sevens is such that there are no easy games,' said Tietjens. 'I will have to field my best line-up for every game and, unfortunately, this will mean some players won't get the necessary game time as we can only use three subs.'
'If there is an injury later on, this could have a huge effect and change the entire dynamics of the side,' he said. 'We have seen this in the past. It would be better if all five subs can be used in every match.'
Last year, despite an injury to skipper D.J. Forbes on the last day, New Zealand still went on to win the Cup title.
Tietjens is concerned that if something similar happened again, it would mean some of his rookies might be undone in the latter stages of a tournament, which he described as having 'different pressures' from the rest of the tournaments on the HSBC Sevens World Series. Seven of his players are turning out for the first time in Hong Kong.
'It would have been better if the IRB had allowed us to use our entire bench of five players as they did at the start of the season,' Tietjens (pictured) said. 'I can see lots of teams struggling in the event of injury.'
The IRB allowed teams to use all five replacements in every game during the opening three legs on the Gold Coast, Dubai and Port Elizabeth as it was the first time three tournaments were played back-to-back.