Quote:
All Blacks wing Doug Howlett wants to play for gold in Melbourne next month.
The 27-year-old, who has played 50 tests, is one of five Super 14 players included in a 22-strong squad to prepare for the Games where New Zealand could win their third gold medal.
Hurricanes utility back Tamati Ellison, Chiefs and one-test All Blacks fullback Sosene Anesi, Highlanders flanker Josh Blackie and Crusaders loose forward Tanerau Latimer are the others.
Ellison said it was not an easy decision to make because his focus was on playing for the Hurricanes, but he was excited about possibly being part of a Commonwealth Games team.
The 12 players used during the third leg of the IRB series in Wellington last weekend, and the five players not needed at Westpac Stadium, complete the squad.
New Zealand lost in the semifinals on Saturday night to Fiji, who went on to win the tournament and maintain their lead in the series when they beat South Africa
27-22 in extra time.
Despite the 26-14 loss to Fiji – with the result sealed when New Zealand's Lote Raikabula was sinbinned while the hosts were ahead 14-12 – Tietjens was confident New Zealand could win gold in Australia.
But he said there would need to be considerable improvement on the performances in Wellington for that to happen.
The addition of Howlett and Anesi provides the speed that was missing in Wellington, though Howlett has no international experience in sevens.
And with none of the Super 14 players guaranteed selection for Melbourne, this weekend's IRB series tournament in Los Angeles could be crucial to the chances of the non-Super 14 players.
Tietjens agreed it would have been better to have had the Super 14 players in Los Angeles and Wellington, but the New Zealand Rugby Union's policy did not allow for it.
With his boss, NZRU deputy chief executive Steve Tew, sitting alongside him yesterday, Tietjens was not going to comment further, but it is clear there is frustration at sevens' position on rugby's totem pole.
However, the five players released to Tietjens are five more than South Africa's Super 14 teams are providing and it is doubtful any of the British Six Nations players will be in Melbourne.
Tietjens had nominated 23 Super 14 players and 10 had said they wanted to play at the Games. From that he picked his five.
Though Howlett is an international sevens rookie, he did play the game in his younger days and Tietjens said the veteran All Black had a superb work ethic.
His test-match experience would also be a bonus in Melbourne.
Of the other four Super 14 players, Blackie, Ellison and Latimer went to last year's IRB sevens Rugby World Cup in Hong Kong and Anesi last played for the New Zealand sevens team in 2004.
Of the contracted sevens players, skipper Tafai Ioasa and veteran Amasio Valence are certainties for Melbourne, while the Wellington trio of Cory Jane, Raikabula and Nigel Hunt did their chances no harm on Friday and Saturday.
Tietjens suggested on Saturday night that his team had more room to improve than Fiji, especially as it was likely Fiji would make only one or two changes to their squad for the Commonwealth Games.
It was a silver lining to a tournament in which the young and very inexperienced squad (seven were on debut) had shown they might form the core of a successful team in Melbourne.
"I'd have to be happy," Tietjens said after the semifinal loss. "The Fijian team, with maybe a change or two, is the team that will go to the Commonwealth Games.
"All my blokes are still playing for their positions and so this was a real experience and they will grow from it."
New Zealand sevens Commonwealth Games squad: Sosene Anesi (Waikato), Charles Baxter (Bay of Plenty), Josh Blackie (Otago), Edwin Cocker (Otago), Tamati Ellison (Wellington), D J Forbes (Auckland), Doug Howlett (Auckland), Craig Hudson (North Harbour), Nigel Hunt (Wellington), Tafai Ioasa (Hawke's Bay), Cory Jane (Wellington), Tanerau Latimer (Bay of Plenty), Zar Lawrence (North Harbour), James Maher (Counties Manukau), Lachie Munro (Auckland), Alfred Pelenise (Canterbury), Lote Raikabula (Wellington), Hayden Reid (Bay of Plenty), Alando Soakai (Otago), Dwayne Sweeney (Waikato), Onosa'i Tololima-Auva'a (Auckland), Amasio Valence (Auckland).
