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The Australian Rugby Sevens believe the advantage of playing at home will give them an extra edge as they prepare to tackle fierce competition from 15 nations on the IRB Sevens World Series in Adelaide which kicks off on Friday.

Coach Michael O’Connor’s side are coming off their best result at the IRB Sevens World Series in two years after they recorded an upset victory over Pacific heavyweights Fiji in Las Vegas, but fell to eventual champions Samoa by two-points.

Injuries have forced three changes to the high-flying squad from Las Vegas with Bernard Foley (ankle), Brian Sefanaia (cruciate) and Australia’s leading tryscorer Clinton Sills (hamstring) all ruled out for the Adelaide Oval.

Sam Latunipulu and Ed Stubbs will make their IRB Series debut.

In one of the most competitive Series in recent times, Samoa, after their victory in Las Vegas, have narrowed the gap to leaders New Zealand while Australia (46) can leapfrog fourth-placed England (50) with a solid performance in Adelaide.

O’Connor believes his youngsters are capable of handling the unique demands of a home event.

"I think pressure's a really good thing for these boys and coming off a pretty good result in Las Vegas we're really looking forward to this one," he said.

"It's a great experience for them, to see whether they can step up to the mark or not and benchmark themselves against the best in the world."

Skipper joins Tahs 

Meanwhile today it was also revealed that Australia captain Patrick McCutcheon will join Super Rugby side NSW Waratahs following the culmination of the IRB season.

McCutcheon, 22, had revelaed to UR7s recently that he was hopeful of playing Super Rugby. He now follows in the footsteps of former Sevens teammates Luke Morahan and Richard Kingi who both won Super contracts with the Queensland Reds after standout performances during the 2008/09 IRB Series.

The pair also won selection on last year’s Qantas Wallabies Spring Tour, joining fellow Sevens graduate James O’Connor who made the leap the season earlier.

McCutcheon credits Rugby Sevens has been an important pathway in his development as a player over the past three years.

“You can’t underestimate the value of the Sevens program,” McCutcheon said.

“You spend a lot of time on the road with the Sevens squad, and certainly your game and body adapt to the fitness requirements of the game.

“I feel I've been able to do adapt to both forms of the game and securing a contract with the Waratahs is a great reward for that.

"Shawn Mackay played Sevens for many years and also made it to the Super 14, so I never lost hope that I'd be able to do the same.

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