All Blacks sevens coach Sir Gordon Tietjens feels that Fiji remains their greatest threat in their bid to win in Dubai this weekend and set themselves on course to defend their HSBC World 7s Series title.
New Zealand have won 12 of the last 15 HSBC Sevens World Series overall titles with South Africa, Fiji and Samoa winning the title once.
Last year the Vodafone Fiji 7s team thrashed New Zealand in the cup semifinal. Both teams are highly likely to meet in the finals barring any upsets.
Meanwhile, Vodafone Fiji 7s coach Ben Ryan says they will treat every game as a final as all teams are very competitive and to defend their title will not be an easy task.
The Dubai 7s kicks off this Friday with the Vodafone Fiji 7s team taking on France in their first pool match at 6.44pm.
They will later meet Brazil at 9.44pm.
Their last pool match is against Argentina at 1.52am Saturday.
The Cup quarterfinals start at 8pm Saturday, the Cup semifinals are at 1.55am Sunday while the Cup final kicks off at 3.42am.
