Miracle worker has been left short

Gordon Tietjens is a miracle worker. That’s probably an understatement, such is the master coach’s impact on rugby in New Zealand.

But sometimes a miracle worker can’t conjure magic during the toughest of times, and without the help he so rightly deserved, the New Zealand Sevens team’s tilt at Olympic glory may have been left to chance.

For a team that is supposedly the major focus for New Zealand Rugby this year, Tietjens’ national sevens side have been left short of much-needed talent.

It’s weird timing to say this after New Zealand secured their third title of the season in Vancouver last weekend, but it’s true nonetheless.

Tietjens performed his latest miracle in Vancouver, overseeing his side’s upset win over South Africa in the final. That’s right, it was an upset.

Sir Titch has been told to cobble together what he can, in Olympic year, as long as he allows Super Rugby players to play Super Rugby for 10 weeks.

He’s been given four tournaments to work with his star men, creating combinations which

Tietjens’ national sevens side have been left short of much-needed talent.

South Africa and Fiji have been cultivating for two years.

How can that happen when New Zealand Rugby (NZR) have made the Olympic gold a key priority.

NZR’s checklist is simple. Win the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Check. Win the 2016 Olympic gold medal. Result pending.

To do that, Tietjens was to get all the support he needed, particularly around his playing roster with the addition of Super Rugby and All Black talent a must.

What have those promises amounted to?

Six players were made available to Tietjens. Two of those, Sonny Bill Williams and Liam Messam, are fulltime sevens players. The rest, Ardie Savea, Ben Lam and the Ioane brothers, Akira and Rieko, are essentially temps.

They play four tournaments, then bugger off back to Super Rugby. It would be easy to complain that the likes of Beauden Barrett, Ben Smith and Julian Savea aren’t in the side.

Media reports suggest those players were tapped on the shoulder and told to focus on 15s ahead of the Lions tour in 2017.

But put that aside, and the fact the only players Tietjens has been given are still having to play Super Rugby is a farce.

To make matters worse, Ben Lam is now certain to miss Rio thanks to a knee injury suffered in Blues training.

He’s barely played Super Rugby for the Blues, having failed to even ride the pine during most match days, instead watching from the stands or on the couch at home.

So now Tietjens must find a replacement for Lam all because he did his knee training for a Blues team he wouldn’t have been picked for.

Surely, in Olympic year, we shouldn’t have to talk about what could have been in buildup tournaments. Surely Tietjens should have had the freedom to perfect his star combinations.

Here’s hoping that issue won’t come back to bite New Zealand when an Olympic medal is on the line.