Gordon Tietjens

The sixth edition of the tournament takes place at Pakuranga rugby club this weekend, with some of the country's best school boy and girl talent on display.

For the first time a NZ Asian Barbarians team has been entered and they've managed to get a sevens great on board, with Sir Gordon Tietjens joining the coaching team.

The competition started in 2016 when Rugby Australia wanted to develop their high school sevens players and asked New Zealand Rugby if they wanted to create an event.

The two coaches have criticized each other over the handling of All Black fullback Ben Smith in the lead up to the tournament, Tietjens wanted him to play at least two tournaments before the Olympics while Hansen didn't think that wasn't necessary because of his Smith's caliber.

Smith last played sevens when he won gold at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games but Tietjens said the game has changed a lot since then.

In his new book Legacy, Tietjens accuses Hansen and All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster, along with New Zealand Rugby boss Steve Tew, of not giving him the support he needed to lure the likes of Ben Smith, Ardie Savea and Beauden Barrett across to the national sevens team for the Rio campaign.

New Zealand failed miserably at the Olympics after they were knocked out by Fiji at the quarterfinal stage.

Tietjens questioned the governing body's leadership in a year when it publicly stated Olympic gold for both the men's and women's teams were dual priorities.

The Suva Sevens has a nice ring to it.

Former New Zealand sevens coach Gordon Tietjens, now in charge of the Samoan sevens team, has suggested taking the Wellington Sevens to the islands following their dire crowd numbers this past weekend.

He told 1News that a country like Samoa or Fiji would love to host a tournament on the World Rugby Sevens Series.

Just 18,000 out of a possible 70,000 are believed to have attended the annual Wellington event.

The 60-year-old, who stepped down last month after 23 years in charge of the New Zealand men's sevens side, and following their quarter-final exit at the Rio Olympics, has been appointed Samoa's new coach.

Tietjens, who led New Zealand to two World Cups, four Commonwealth Games gold medals and 12 World Series crowns, will have former Manu Samoa coach Stephen Betham as his assistant.

"Samoa has huge amount of potential to start progressing in the World Series," he said.