Forbes: Pressure on 7s crown defence

New Zealand Sevens captain DJ Forbes believes that his side will need to soak a little more pressure than usual as the defending champions when they launch their bid to retain the title this season.

New Zealand won the series last season with South Africa finishing as runners-up, but that is now history as the new season starts on Friday in Australia.

"To start the Series in the Gold Coast, it is a bit of a paradise here, so we are all really excited about it and playing in a great stadium," Forbes said.

"Pressure is always on New Zealand, and there might be more with being defending champions, but we never go into a Series defending a title, we just go out like all the others to win it.

"Being a part of the series is exciting knowing it is just going to get bigger, but we need to make sure we are putting on a good show to make sure it still holds its place in Rugby."

Australia's skipper Ed Jenkins is excited about starting the campaign at home and is relying on the home crowd to give his team an edge.

"It is a great honour to be captain for the first leg, which is at home. I know we have the depth in our programme, but starting off with eight new players is quite difficult," Jenkins said.

"The home crowd will help us out a lot, it is almost like playing with an extra man if the crowd can get up and make a lot of noise for us and I think it will be really beneficial."