The missing piece: Can New Zealand bring home first Olympics men's sevens gold?

Through its storied 131-year history as arguably the planet's pre-eminent rugby nation, New Zealand has captured every trophy and accolade the sport has to offer, with one exception - an Olympic men's sevens gold medal.

The Black Ferns Sevens exploits in recent years have seen them steal the limelight from the compatriots, and justifiably so. They've touched down in Paris as firm betting favourites to defend their gold medal from Tokyo 2020.

In contrast, the NZ men failed to reach the podium at the sport's Olympics debut at Rio 2016, finishing a disappointing fifth place overall. They fared much better five years later in Tokyo, but were consigned to silver after being edged by rivals Fiji in the final.

Injuries to senior players hampered the NZ team's start to their 2023/24 World Series campaign, before coming down the stretch strongly, winning the iconic Hong Kong stop and closing out their campaign with consecutive tournament wins in Hong Kong and Singapore, before coming up short against Fiji in the bronze medal match.

But those promising late signs are enough for NZ sevens great Karl Te Nana to believe the nine-strong squad has the quality to reach the top of the podium in France.

Te Nana points to the opportunities those injuries opened up for some of the younger talent in the squad, affording them some hugely valuable experience on the big stage heading into the brightest lights of them all at the Olympics.

"They really had to stick to a plan," Te Nana told SENZ Mornings. "They knew that they needed a good mix, amongst the group, so there's a lot of more senior blokes that were coming back into the fold. They had to give them time during the series to get back up to speed.

"A number of them had a couple of niggles and a lot of the young blokes stepped up. New Zealand lost a few of the tournaments earlier on, but those guys got time in the saddle and came good the second part of the series. Hong Kong was the launching point for the men's program to start leading up to the Olympics, and from there they were pretty much unbeatable.

"We've already seen in past tournaments such as Commonwealth Games and the like that they can really peak at these major tournaments. I think they're probably hitting their form right at the peak end of the year."

Coach Tomasi Cama has made some difficult omissions in his squad, omitting the likes of veterans Tim Mikkelson and Joe Webber, who have been named as travelling reserves.

Te Nana - who scored 113 tries for New Zealand and powered them to gold at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games - agrees Cama has leaned towards form over experience with his selections, an approach that he says will pay dividends given some of the precocious rising talent he'll have the luxury of fielding.

"He's gone with form,” Te Nana conceded to host Ian Smith. "He's gone with these young blokes who had a couple of teething problems.

"Fehi Fineanganofo has dropped 15kg, and he's a monster now. So that's just come through game time. He's probably taken Tim (Mikkelson's) spot.

"These young blokes are now playing with confidence and no fear. And we know what these other guys can do if they're able to come in.

"I think he's got the forward pack that can lay the platform and he's also got these young guys, who are exciting.

"Tepaea Cook Savage is another guy who I think turned into their playmaker role. He's probably taken Akuila Rokolisoa out of the starting line up."

One obstacle for the New Zealanders will be negotiating their way out of the most stacked of three groups in the men's draw, competing in Group A alongside South Africa, Ireland and Japan.

"Massive,” he said of the group. "We already know how good South Africa are. They look very determined, as they always do, but they just look sharp again.

"Ireland, they were the second-best team in the world this year. In saying that, they fell off the wagon a little bit at the back end of the season. They looked tired. They've had the same group for the majority of the series, a lot of you guys had a lot of minutes for Ireland, so it'll be interesting to see how they've reloaded leading into the Olympics and what their workload's like.

"But she's a tough pool. Even Japan, they're niggly. They're one of those teams you don't put away early and they stick around and are just a nuisance to put away.

"I think the series now legitimately has four or five teams that can win it. There's no easy run now."

Another such team is Argentina. After their breakthrough 2023/24 on the circuit, Te Nana expects that form to translate to the Olympics, despite being without star player Rodrigo Isgro, who was slapped with a five-game ban due to a dangerous tackle in Madrid.

Current World Series champions and hosts France will be another in the mix, powered by superstar cross-code convert Antoine Du Pont, while Fiji's remain the threat they always are.

"The series is amazing," Te Nana noted. "World Cups are up there as well, they're probably higher than the World Series.

"But nothing beats going to an Olympics and calling yourself an Olympian. If you're able to chuck a gold medal on top of it, it doesn't get much higher in any type of sport."

The New Zealanders will kick off their quest for gold against Japan and South Africa early Thursday morning (NZ time).

Listen to the full interview: