Commonwealth Games: Rio a reality for Tietjens

New Zealand sevens rugby maestro Gordon Tietjens has dropped his broadest hint yet that the 2016 Olympics are on his horizon.

For the fourth consecutive Commonwealth Games, coach Tietjens orchestrated a gold medal performance, overseeing a campaign that comprised five romps and a come-from-behind thriller against Australia in the final.

Not long after that 24-17 win, Tietjens wasn't his usual coy self when asked if he would stick around for another six years and lead a sevens team onto the biggest stage in sport.

"We're going to inject a lot into sevens rugby in New Zealand and if I'm part of it that's great, we'll just see how it goes," he said.

"It would be awesome to."

A host of other countries are clamouring for his services ahead of the sport's Olympic debut and there's little wonder after yet another display of astute selection and tactics ended in 12 beaming men draped with gold medals on the Delhi dais.

Tietjens revealed the Games campaign was his chief priority this year ahead of the world series circuit, where perennial winners New Zealand were shunted into second place by Samoa.

"We set some goals at the start of the season and the No 1 was to win the gold medal," he said.

"This has always been in the back of our mind and we've planned and done a lot of work towards winning this.

"The biggest challenge for me, of course, was picking the right side. There were some good players back home who tried for this side as well."

Tietjens blended his hardened core of sevens players with fringe All Blacks Hosea Gear, Zac Guildford, Ben Smith and Liam Messam -- the latter a late replacement for the injured Adam Thomson.

But in the final it was the likes of Kurt Baker, Sherwin Stowers, Lote Raikabula and captain DJ Forbes who had the most impact, something Tietjens had predicted given how specialised the abbreviated game has become.

The high-profile group were still worthy of high praise, Tietjens said.

"Those players with the x-factor, the Hosea Gears, Liam, for them to play no sevens for a number of years ... and Guildford and Ben Smith haven't played any sevens at the international level.

"I take my hat off to those guys as well."

Forbes said the Olympics may be in the thoughts of some young players but he wasn't among them.

"If I was a specialist sevens player I could probably go another six years, be another Rushie (sevens great Eric Rush)," he said.

"But there are a lot of us still aiming for higher honours, which is Super 15 and maybe even for some of them, the All Blacks.

"Sevens is my heart at the moment. I've got next week to worry about 15s."

The team flew home hours after the win, with most of them poised to link with national provincial championship teams.

That includes final hero Stowers, beaming about the prospect of adding the Ranfurly Shield to a gold medal when his Counties-Manukau team challenge Canterbury on Saturday.

Meanwhile, two of the team join the small group of multiple sevens gold medallists.

Messam and Raikabula were part of the 2006 side who triumphed in Melbourne, matching the 1998-2002 deeds of Rush, Bruce Reihana and Roger Randle.

Playmaking great Amasio Valence is the only three-time winner, in 1998, 2002 and 2006.