All Blacks Sevens face challenging situation

All Blacks Sevens rugby, and chances for success at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, might be a victim of the coronavirus pandemic.

(World Rugby)

The cancellation of the 2019-20 World Sevens Series was untimely for New Zealand. Sitting on top of the points table and starting to play with more consistency, while also introducing newer players, they were set to mount a good campaign to achieve that much wanted Olympic gold medal.

But if a week is a long time in politics, 12-16 months is a long time in an energy-high sport like rugby sevens.

Will that postponement of the Olympic Games until next year hinder New Zealand's chances"?

Three of the All Blacks Sevens side, Tim Mikkelson, Scott Curry and Kurt Baker are in their 30s.

Mikkelson, 33, has played 459 games for the side, Scott Curry, 31, has played 250 and Kurt Baker, 31, has played 201 games.

That's an awful lot of experience for any side to lose so New Zealand will be hoping that the enforced break from playing this season may inhibit the natural rugby ageing process while also allowing them to avoid injury and to get themselves into better physical condition.

There is a worry, however. And that is if World Rugby, looking to not only meet its commercial commitments to its competition sponsor but also to complete its full sequence of postponed tournaments, greatly increases the demands on the players to squeeze a season and a half of tournaments into one season, culminating in the Olympic Games.

That carries consequences for older players of all nations, of course, and would require the utmost of planning in reducing the potential impact on those players most vulnerable to time catching up with them and the ever attendant possibility of injuries.

No doubt all manner of projections of what might occur are occupying the best brains in the business during this time of lockdown.

But as so many have been forecasting, the world is likely to look much different when all this upheaval is over, and the prizes will go to those who best adapt to whatever the circumstances.

That will ensure the interest is not only going to be in on-field performance but in think tanks off the field.

The one thing the All Blacks Sevens has going for them is the introduction of some exciting talent already in the 2019-20 season and that gives them a head start on many others.