Sir Gordon Frederick Tietjens (born 9 December 1955) is head coach of the Samoa rugby sevens team, and a celebrated former coach of the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

men's national team in rugby sevens, the

All Blacks Sevens The New Zealand national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. They have won a record twelve World Rugby Sevens Series titles. The team has been of ...

. When the

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international ru ...

inducted him into the

IRB Hall of Fame The World Rugby Hall of Fame (formerly the IRB Hall of Fame) recognises special achievement and contribution to the sport of rugby union. The World Rugby Hall of Fame covers players, coaches, administrators, match officials, institutions and other ...

in May 2012, it said that "Tietjens' roll of honour is without peer in Sevens, and perhaps in the Game of Rugby as a whole." According to

Spiro Zavos Spiro Bernard Zavos (born 1937 in Wellington of Greek immigrant parents) is a New Zealand historian, philosopher, journalist and writer. Life and career After gaining a Bachelor of Arts from the Victoria University of Wellington, Zavos taught ...

, Tietjens is "The greatest of all the Sevens coaches". As of his induction, he had coached the All Blacks Sevens to 10 series titles in the IRB Sevens World Series, the

Rugby World Cup Sevens Rugby World Cup Sevens (RWCS) is the quadrennial world championship of rugby sevens, a variant of rugby union. Organised by World Rugby, it currently consists of men's and women's tournaments, and is the highest level of competition in the sport ...

crown in 2001, and gold medals in four of the five

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

in which the sport had been contested, losing the 2014 final in

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. He has also added two more IRB Sevens series titles (

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and

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), and a second Rugby World Cup Sevens crown (also in

Player development

Tietjens has coached many young players who have gone on to become All Blacks, including

Christian Cullen Christian Mathias Cullen (born 12 February 1976) is a retired New Zealand rugby union player. He played most of his rugby at fullback for New Zealand (the All Blacks), for the Hurricanes in the Super 12, and for Manawatu, Wellington and later ...

Jonah Lomu Jonah Tali Lomu (12 May 1975 – 18 November 2015) was a New Zealand professional rugby union player. Lomu is considered to have been the first true global superstar of rugby, and consequently had a huge impact on the game. He is widely regarde ...

Joe Rokocoko Josevata Taliga "Joe" Rokocoko (pronounced , born 6 June 1983) is a New Zealand former professional rugby union player, who played as a wing. Born in Fiji, Rokocoko grew up in New Zealand and played for the Blues and Auckland. He later played f ...

Mils Muliaina Junior Malili "Mils" Muliaina (born 31 July 1980) is a former professional rugby union player who most recently played for San Francisco Rush in the US PRO Rugby competition. He played primarily as a fullback, though he has also played as a ...

Rico Gear Rico Levi Gear (born 26 February 1978) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. He was a specialist right wing but also covered midfield positions. He is the older brother of New Zealand winger Hosea Gear Club career Gear was educated at Gi ...

Cory Jane Cory Steven Jane (born 8 February 1983) is a New Zealand international rugby union player. He first played for the All Blacks in 2008 and plays as a winger. In 2011 Jane was selected into the Tri Nations team as injury cover. A few weeks late ...

, Ben Smith, Rieko Ioane,

Israel Dagg Israel Jamahl Akuhata Dagg (born 6 June 1988) is a former New Zealand rugby union player who played for the Crusaders in Super Rugby. He has also played for the New Zealand Sevens team, and represents Hawkes Bay in the ITM Cup. Dagg played in ...

, and Liam Messam. Tietjens coached 44 players who went on to become All Blacks in the 15-a-side game and before his retirement, he was the only remaining active international coach from the amateur era. Tietjens is currently assisted by

Eric Rush Eric James Rush (born 11 February 1965 in Kaeo) is a New Zealand former rugby union footballer and rugby sevens legend, and now a supermarket owner. His New Zealand Sevens career began in 1988 and ran until past his 39th birthday in 2004. Ru ...

, a former long-serving captain of the New Zealand Sevens team and a former Sevens star himself.

Olympics

In 2012, his contract as the NZ Sevens coach was extended through to 2016. This allows Tietjens to be part of Sevens rugby's first inclusion in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

. According to then-World Rugby chairman

Bernard Lapasset Bernard Lapasset (born 20 October 1947) is a French rugby administrator who was Chairman of the World Rugby from 2008 to 2016. He previously served as President of the French Federation of Rugby Union from 1991 to May 2008, when Pierre Camou, ...

, sevens' inclusion in the Olympics was "in no small way down to Gordon Tietjens. Through his knowledge, passion, and expertise, he has driven the standards towards what we now celebrate as a truly global game of sevens." In the

1999 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1999 for various Commonwealth realms were announced on 30 December 1998, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 1999. The ''Honours list'' is a list of people who have been awarded one of the various orders, d ...

, Tietjens was appointed a

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

(MNZM); in the 2007 New Year Honours, he was elevated to Companion of the same order (CNZM), and in the 2013 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was further promoted to a

Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

(KNZM). After an unsuccessful 2016 Olympics campaign, Tietjens stepped down from the All Black Sevens coaching position.

Samoa

In October 2016, Tietjens accepted the role of coach to the Samoa national sevens team. In 2020, he announced that he would be stepping down from the head coaching role for the Samoa national sevens team stating that he wanted Samoa to be able to plan for the future

Achievements

* Playing honours: New Zealand Barbarians * Member of the first national New Zealand Hong Kong Sevens Team (1983) * New Zealand Sevens Head Coach (1994–2016) * IRB Sevens World Series Champions (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013 & 2014) *

Champions (2001 & 2013) * Commonwealth Games Rugby Sevens Gold Medalist (1998, 2002, 2006 & 2010) * NPC Coach of the Year in (2000 for Bay of Plenty) * NZRU Coach of the Year (2010) * IRB Hall of Fame Member * Knight Companion of The New Zealand Order of Merit

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tietjens, Gordon 1955 births Living people World Rugby Hall of Fame inductees New Zealand rugby union coaches Rugby sevens in New Zealand Knights Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit Rugby players and officials awarded knighthoods New Zealand Olympic coaches New Zealand national rugby sevens team coaches New Zealand rugby union players Waikato rugby union players Bay of Plenty rugby union players New Zealand male rugby sevens players New Zealand international rugby sevens players Samoa national rugby sevens team coaches