New Zealand hopes for success as rugby returns in Rio (Yahoo Sports)

When rugby sevens was added to the rollcall of sports for the 2016 Summer Olympics, New Zealanders rubbed their hands in gleeful anticipation. If any nation seemed well placed to benefit from rugby’s return to the games after 92 years, even in its compact form, it was New Zealand – home of the famed All Blacks. By 2009, when the IOC voted to include rugby sevens for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, New Zealand men’s teams had won the world series in eight of its 11 seasons since its creation in 1999.