Australia Men's Sevens captain Henry Hutchison is out to bury the demons of the Olympics as they eye off an opening-match win over South Africa.
Hutchison will lead the new-look Sevens side into the opening round of the Dubai event following the retirement of Nick Malouf.
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The side spent most of the pre-season searching for a new head coach after John Manenti's departure, with incoming boss Liam Barry only joining the team last week.
“He’s been great. He's already added some value, some really good tips but the reality is it’s a pretty player driven trip," Hutchison told Rugby.com.au
“Liam (Barry) is definitely taking the reins but he can only add so much in such a short amount of time.
“I guess this weekend is really driven by the group from the core leadership group who have managed the team throughout the turbulent pre-season so the players will drive the ethos of the team for the weekend.
“When Liam comes in January, he'll take full control.”
The Australians have been drawn with Olympic gold medalist France along with the Blitzboks and Kenya.
The match-up with South Africa is particularly appealing for Hutchison, who infamously defeated the Australians in the bronze medal match.
“(It's) definitely a revenge match. I struggled to watch those Paris games since coming fourth and it's definitely something that I'm going to have to learn to get over," Hutchison explained.
“‘I'd be a great opportunity to get one back on them immediately.
“They've got a good team. They've got most of their Paris (squad) here in Dubai so I'm expecting a pretty tough match, as I always do against South Africa."
The Aussies have yet to win the Dubai event, narrowly defeated in the Final in 2021 by the South Africans, with the action set to head straight to Cape Town in the following week.
“I think we're just going to attack it the way we always attack it. We want to win them,” Hutchison added.
“That'd be great to be the first team to win in Dubai and then go on and do one better than we won in Cape Town last year.
“We've got a pretty eager bunch with four or five young kinds ready to impress and two boys to debut so there’s a lot of energy.”
