No matter how well you prepare for the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, sometimes a tournament will throw up a few unexpected roadblocks.

For New Zealand, the Dubai Sevens was one of those tournaments. By the end of the second day of the opening round, head coach Sir Gordon Tietjens had lost five key players. Captain Scott Curry (dislocated shoulder), Gillies Kaka (ankle), Tim Mikkelson (concussion), Sherwin Stowers (broken arm) and Regan Ware (ankle) have all flown home. To say Dubai was attritional is an understatement.

One player who has seen it all before is DJ Forbes. He has been involved in the New Zealand sevens setup now for almost a decade. With Curry returning home, Forbes has reassumed the captaincy duties and is level headed in his assessment of Dubai. “All in all

I think Dubai was pretty tragic in terms of injury toll but I think there’s still a lot of key learnings,” he said. “Getting some of the young blood into the team was crucial and the only way you are going to get good at sevens is to experience the tough tournaments.

“As hard as it was, it was a good test for the young guys and us old horses as well. Still, finishing in the top four and seeing some of the big nations outside that top four is a positive sign for us.”

In Dubai, New Zealand lost twice to USA and were pushed to a three point victory by Samoa, as well as losing out to Fiji in the Cup semi-finals. “If you look at some of our crucial games from Dubai, you’ll see the kick offs are key and this is something we will be putting a lot of emphasis on at Cape Town,” said Forbes.