The All Blacks Sevens concede they're braced for something of a surprise when they take the field for their first World Series event in more than two years in Singapore this weekend.
It's been 762 days to be exact. The 2020 Vancouver Sevens was their last tournament as COVID-19 forced the borders shut and with them, the All Blacks Sevens' participation in the World Series.
"It's just good to be away [again], it really just feels like my first tournament again," Regan Ware told Newshub from his Singapore hotel.
"It's these little things, you can't match being away as a team, team bonding, team culture, it's good for the team and good for rugby."
This weekend's Singapore Sevens marks the start of a cluttered few months for the All Blacks Sevens, who have two pinnacle events this year - within two months of each other.
The side will play three World Series events after Singapore, before July's Commonwealth Games, and September's Sevens World Cup in South Africa.
"It's definitely in the back of our minds around where we think we can get to," coach Clarke Laidlaw tells Newshub.
"Those are the pinnacle events for this year, and we'd love to have around six tournaments under our belts and be really clear on our game."
The team will take comfort knowing they've had more heavily disrupted build ups to pinnacle events in the past and still succeeded.
There were no World Series events ahead of last year's Tokyo Olympics, with the team relying solely on Oceania tournaments and inter-squad matches, before taking home silver.
"We had a whole year to prepare for a pinnacle event and not actually playing a lot of rugby, so coming into a Commonwealth Games under the same circumstances is now shock to us," Ware added.
While the silver medal fell short of what they went to Tokyo for, it proved they can still perform on the biggest stage with limited build up.
A smattering of World Series events before the Commonwealth Games and World Cup should hold them in even better stead than 12 months ago.
"The opportunities are obvious, if we can do well here then that will set us up really nicely for the tournaments to come," says Laidlaw.
The All Blacks Sevens ongoing absence from the World Series finally comes to an end this weekend, and their road to back to back Commonwealth Games and World Cup triumph, begins.
