NZ Rugby will consider centralising the men’s and women’s Sevens programmes and keeping all of its players at one training base, said chief executive Steve Tew.
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Williams, 31, took to Twitter on Tuesday to pay tribute to Tietjens, writing how proud he was to have been coached by the Sevens maestro. To put the length of his career into context, when he first began in this role rugby was an amateur game, Jim Bolger was Prime Minister and several members of the current All Blacks Sevens team hadn’t even been born.
The 60-year-old said he was already considering stepping down after the Olympics and the stress in the lead-up to the Games, fuelled by high expectations from the New Zealand public, made up his mind.
The result comes on the back of a tremulous 12 months for Tietjens as his injury-hit side won just three of 10 World Rugby Sevens series events. I’m sure lessons will be learned and I wish my successor all the best for the Sevens Series ahead and for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
“In the end, I think other countries around the world caught up to Sir Gordon’s coaching mana and his style and I think on the field of play his teams ran out of outright speed”, he said. I want to especially acknowledge the management team and all the players who have contributed to the success of New Zealand sevens during the last 22 years.
Lomu went on to star for the All Blacks in the 1995 and 1999 World Cups, but would be called upon time and again by Tietjens for Sevens duty, propelling New Zealand to Commonwealth Games gold in 1998 and the sevens World Cup in 2001 in Argentina. “But mate, I gave it everything and you can’t ask for more than that”.
Through his more than two decades in charge, he was renowned as the toughest trainer in the game, giving his players an athleticism that dominated the sevens circuit for years. “Ben Ryan would be fantastic to come to New Zealand – I’ve seen that little guy up close and the magic that he’s done”, he said.
In 2012 he received the rare honour of being inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame, unusual for a still serving coach and the first sevens coach to receive such an honour.
He was knighted in 2013.
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