Australia isn't the only team the Black Ferns Sevens are keeping an eye on heading into this year's World Cup despite the rivalry with their trans-Tasman foes intensifying this year.
Playmaker Tyla Nathan-Wong says despite regularly seeing Australia in knockout matches during this year's tournaments, there's other teams on their radar heading into this weekend's event in San Francisco.
"It's a new tournament at the end of the day - everyone's had a month to prepare for this," she said.
The women's sevens side begin their campaign against Mexico on Saturday in San Francisco.
"Every team is getting strong. The likes of Spain, who beat the Aussies earlier in the year. France, who made their first ever final on the world series and the likes of the USA - on home soil, you can't count them out."
The Black Ferns Sevens faced off with Australia in the last two Cup finals in this year's World Sevens Series, taking out both with a 46-0 walloping in Langford and a comfortable 33-7 win in Paris.
However, it wasn't enough to snatch the overall title from the Australians who pipped them to the series trophy by two points after the Kiwi side's rough start to this year's series in Dubai.
The team did get one back though after claiming the gold medal in a thrilling extra-time final against Australia in the Commonwealth Games.
The Black Ferns Sevens face Mexico in their opening match of the World Cup on Friday 20 July (kick off 6.50am Saturday 21 July NZT).
Every game of the men's and women's Rugby World Cup Sevens will be live from July 21-23 on TVNZ's Duke channel - Freeview 13, Sky 23, and streaming on tvnz.co.nz.
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