All Blacks Sevens Title Hopes End

Sir Gordon Tietjens is putting a positive spin on the quarter-final exit of the All Blacks Sevens at the Paris world series event.

A loss to Argentina pushed New Zealand into the plate, where they lost the semi-final to South Africa.

New Zealand had led Argentina 17-5 before Kurt Baker was sinbinned, and from there coach Sir Gordon Tietjens said things fell apart.

He said it looked like they could have staged another miracle but Baker appeared to cost them.

Tietjens said with Sonny Bill Williams joining a host of injured players during the weekend, they fielded a very green team.

"We were the least experienced team in the whole world series for this tournament, so amazing really. It's about building those players and getting a lot of tournaments under their belt."

Sonny Bill Williams is expected to be fit for the London tournament next week.

Radio Sport