The All Blacks Sevens have confirmed their spot in next year's Tokyo Olympics, after reaching the quarter-finals of the London Sevens tournament on Sunday (NZ time).
New Zealand won two of their three pool games at Twickenham to reach the next round, which guarantees them a top-four finish in the overall World Series ahead of next weekend's season finale in Paris.
"It was the main goal to qualify for the Olympics," said New Zealand captain Scott Curry. "It took a massive effort from the squad, and I'm really proud of the boys."
Clark Laidlaw's men beat Scotland 21-7 and Ireland 34-7 in their opening two games, before losing to England 17-12 in their final group game.
Against two-time London champions Scotland, Tim Mikkelson, Scott Curry and Scott Gregory all got on the scoresheet, with Andrew Knewstubb converting all three tries.
They continued their rapid form against Ireland as Knewstubb, and Regan Ware scored braces, to go along with tries from Dylan Collier and Tone Ng Shiu.
However, the All Blacks Sevens were pushed to the limit against England, who needed to win by 10 points or more to reach the quarter-finals.
England led 12-7 at the break with Oliver Lindsay-Hague and Dan Norton scoring for the hosts to counter Gregory's try for New Zealand.
Will Edwards scored for England to give them the 10point buffer they needed, but Ng Shiu crossed the line to narrow the margin to five points.
England had one last roll of the dice and failed to score, meaning Ireland would advance to the quarter-finals on points differential.
New Zealand face France at 10:20pm (NZ time) on Sunday, as they chase their first series win in London title since 2014.
The other quarter-final matchups will see South Africa take on Australia, the USA do battle with Canada, and Fiji up against Ireland.
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