New Zealand's Sevens teams are primed to defend their thrones at this year's Commonwealth Games with both sides settled in and ready to go in Birmingham.
Both the men's and women's team enter this year's event as reigning champions after triumphs on the Gold Coast four years ago. The earned silver and gold respectively at last year's Olympics in Tokyo.
With Warwick Castle standing tall behind them for Thursday's press conference, women's captain Sarah Hirini said her side was ready to defend their crown this weekend.
"The Commonwealth Games is really special. I watched it a lot when I was a kid and the success of the New Zealand team so to be part of it at the Gold Coast and bring our own gold medal to the team was special," Hirini told 1News.
"It was nerve-wracking at the time but really nice to look back on and I can't wait to contribute to the team again."
Preparations for this year's tournament have seen the sides training in Scotland last week before transferring to their Athletes' Village for final preparations.
"It's been nice, just getting settled into the village and being welcomed on by the New Zealand team is always a really special and emotional time, being welcomed on by a haka," Hirini said.
"We've been here for a few days now and getting in some training and it's a really nice feeling to be at the Commonwealth Games again."
Men's co-captain Joe Webber said the Scottish stint was a great way to shake off jet lag and get some physical work done with three games against the Scottish men's side being part of their prep work.
"It it definitely helped us climatise," Webber said. "Coming into the village, the boys were pretty fresh."
The women are just as primed, although Hirini conceded compared to last year's Olympics campaign the "hype" and pressure aren't as heavy heading into this weekend although that has pros and cons.
Birmingham organisers have opted for multiple Athletes' Villages this year rather than one central hub in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, meaning the rugby sevens sides have been based at Warwick University - 40 minutes outside Birmingham and well away from many of the other events and competitors.
"It's been pretty low key to be honest," Hirini said.
"When I look around, there's a few other athletes but there's a lot of the sevens teams so it feels like we're in a different country on a World Sevens Series which is kind of nice because sometimes the hype gets quite big and you forget what you're here for."
The men's squad enters this weekend as the most successful team in Commonwealth Games history having reached all six finals to date and winning five of them; their only silver medal being in 2014 in Glasgow.
Webber featured in that squad eight years ago and would've added a gold medal to his collection on the Gold Coast had it not been for a cruel arthritis diagnosis the day before competition in 2018 ruled him out.
Four years on though, the 28-year-old is eager for a second shot at it as one of the senior members of the squad.
"I was gutted to be ruled out of the last one just a day before the Games," he said. "Hopefully all goes well this weekend... the body is healthy, the boys are feeling good and we've had a wicked build-up with no injuries."
The men open their pool play against Sri Lanka while the women will first play Canada when the Rugby Sevens tournament kicks off on Friday at 10pm NZT.
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