Building team culture from the ground up has been pinpointed as the key to success for the world champion All Black Sevens.
The Clarke Laidlaw-coached side triumphed in San Francisco, defeating England 33-10 in the final, after wins over powerhouse Fiji and the exuberant French.
Laidlaw has only been in charge of the side since the start of the IRB World Series campaign.
The Scot replaced sevens legend Sir Gordon Tietjens as full-time coach after the Rio Olympics, but couldn't commit to the job for a further 12 months.
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New Zealand struggled under interim coach Scott Waldrom and Laidlaw suffered the same mediocre results at the start of his reign, but behind the scenes, the new coach was restructuring the team environment and developing a culture to suit.
Captain Scott Curry, who played under Tietjens and Waldrom, told Newshub that Laidlaw had adapted their style of play to coincide with the evolution of sevens rugby.
"We have built this culture from the ground up and it feels like a completely new team," Curry said.
"It's day and night to be honest. I can't really put into words what we have changed.
"It's been really awesome and the results represent all the effort we have all put in
"'Titch' did really well over his years as coach. He had some awesome results, but the game has changed so much and you have to evolve with it.
"When Clark came in, he had all these ideas and we were keen to buy into that, as we just wanted to win. It's worked.
"The boys really enjoy spending a lot of time with each other, now that we are centralised down in Mount Maunganui.
"We have a lot more time together as a team."
Laidlaw was quick to deflect any accolades straight back towards the team.
The former Scottish international told Newshub that the whole team, including the playing group, management staff and medical staff, had to buy in to achieve positive results.
"We worked really hard as a group to get to a point where we were playing with real accuracy and intensity, and the players should take all the credit for sticking with the plans," Laidlaw said. “It was just a joy to watch.
"In team sport, it’s a multitude of people working really hard.
"My job is just to point us in the direction, and set a culture that allows us to have fun and enjoy ourselves, while expressing ourselves on the field.
"We have a big job to do and it's important to play well, and I think we really have that balance now.
"We have worked really hard off the field to get things right on the field.
"We train hard. You just have to be smart and trust that the hard training is done.
"The game is all about power and speed, so we have changed the way we train slightly, but we still train very hard."
The focus now switches to regaining the world series crown that New Zealand hasn't held for three years.
But Curry said they also had eyes on the ultimate prize - an Olympic gold medal.
"It's about the Olympics," Curry said. "We are gunning for that.
“We are already starting to think about that and how we can be in the best possible shape heading into Tokyo 2020.
"This year gives us a lot of confidence that we can go to a pinnacle event and come back with the gold. To do that twice this year is pretty amazing.
"We set out at the start of the year to win the Commonwealth Games gold medal and the World Cup, so to do them both is pretty awesome."
Newshub.
