With their eighth series in nine seasons wrapped up in the London tournament last weekend, coach Gordon Tietjens is turning his focus on rebuilding for next season, which includes the four-yearly World Cup.
While injuries have forced a few changes to his squad this week, Tietjens has allowed a few of his regulars to concentrate on their 15s game while he tries to extend his pool of players for next season.
Blues winger David Smith and Waikato's Tim Mikkelson have been flown across to join other newcomers Ben Nowell and Kendrick Lynn, and Tietjens plans to allow all of them adequate game time against pool opponents Russia, Portugal and England and perhaps beyond.
"This is an opportunity for me to try young players for next year," Tietjens told NZPA.
"With that in mind winning the world series before coming to Murrayfield is great for us, a little reward, and it means we can maybe be a bit more relaxed but at the same time we don't want to break up our winning run at Murrayfield."
New Zealand won the Edinburgh sevens last season to edge Fiji out for the overall title.
Out from the squad that took New Zealand to five consecutive tournament wins this season are Victor Vito, Zar Lawrence, Edwin Cocker, Tafai Ioasa and Stephen Yates.
Chad Tuoro showed last weekend that he was an able replacement in the squad but this weekend will see more of Tietjens' young brigade unleashed alongside seasoned campaigners DJ Forbes (captain), Tomasi Cama, Nigel Hunt and Lote Raikabula.
Tietjens is hoping Solomon King (hamstring) will also come right by game time.
"My philosophy for sevens rugby hasn't changed. It's a launching pad for young players. They aspire to be a Super 14 player and the ultimate ambition is to be an All Black."
One of Tietjens' recent charges, Otago's Adam Thomson, was this week named in the All Blacks training squad.
Tietjens said introducing young players to the tournament now will help cushion the blows caused by some players moving on to the Super 14 next season.
"This is a real opportunity for the young guys because it's not just experiencing sevens rugby but the teams that are playing in the international tournaments like South Africa and Fiji and Samoa.
Even though New Zealand were beaten 12-17 by England in the London quarterfinals, they managed to win the plate final which handed them enough points to take this year's series.
Forbes said it was strange dropping out of the cup competition for the first time this season and then watching their nearest challengers South Africa lose to Samoa.
"We'll definitely be aiming for a big one," he said.
"We won it last year so we'll be wanting to fix a few things that we slipped up on."
He paid tribute to Tietjens.
"He is one of a kind. Eight out of nine is unbelievable and it is probably one of the best records that any coach in any world sport has got. He deserves every accolade he gets."
