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Adelaide, Australia. Competition leader New Zealand must overcome a resurgent Samoa and a history of failures in Adelaide when the Australia round of the IRB Sevens series takes place this weekend.

Regular frontrunner New Zealand enjoys a 14-point lead in the championship, built on the strength of victories in the competition’s opening two legs in Dubai and South Africa.

However, the gloss has gone off those performances following subsequent losses to Samoa during the semifinals in Wellington and in the Las Vegas final.

New Zealand is also dogged by the fact it has never won in Adelaide, the only ground on the current Sevens circuit where a title has eluded coach Gordon Tietjens, who has guided the Kiwis to eight of the 10 World series titles.

“It hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for us,” conceded Tietjens, who sees the strongest challenge coming from Samoa, which has moved into second place ahead of Fiji, England and Australia. “They know the game inside out and have very good players in Mikaele Pesamino and Uale Mai.

“We’ve been in three of the four Cup finals so far this year, and in the one we lost we were comprehensively beaten by Samoa, who I thought played very well. They’re the form team, but we’ve lost three tries to Pesamino through intercepts and a couple of loose passes or missed tackles can cost you in sevens.”

Tietjens also believes New Zealand’s pool, which includes Scotland, Tonga and Argentina, is arguably the toughest of the four in Adelaide.

Samoa, whose breakthrough championship success in Las Vegas was its fourth title in the 11-year history of the Sevens World Series, is in Pool B with defending Adelaide winner South Africa, France and Japan.

Under head coach Stephen Betham, Samoa has developed a fast-flowing game which helps keep physical contact to a minimum and has seen 50 percent of its tries originate from within its own half.

“Our strength is our speed out wide. For us, it doesn’t matter what field dimensions are out there, we have our game plan, we are confident in our strengths,” Betham said.

Kenya, last year’s defeated finalist in Adelaide, is expected to dominate Pool C alongside Fiji, while world champion Wales and Papua New Guinea complete the group.

Australia looms as the one team that could upset the form book in its chase for its first IRB title since it won in Brisbane in 2002. It joins England, Niue and the United States in Pool D.

“Coming off a pretty good result in Las Vegas, we’re really looking forward to this one,” Australia coach Michael O’Connor said. “You talk to any of the teams who play in a home tournament and there’s something special about playing in your own country.”

Agence France-Presse