Wellington's Taleta Tupuola is set to make his New Zealand rugby sevens debut this weekend after he was called into the squad to replace Manawatu's Lote Raikabula.
Raikabula has been ruled out with a bicep injury.
The loss of the experienced Raikabula is a major blow to the New Zealand side trying to get their campaign back on track after losing to Pacific rivals Samoa in the playoff stages of the last two tournaments.
New Zealand still leads the overall points standings in the series but Samoa and Fiji are nipping at their heels.
New Zealand kicks off their Adelaide Sevens campaign with a game against Scotland tonight at 9:50