Victorious Kiwis now eyeing Sydney
Three late tries, one after the final hooter, saw the Kiwis fight back to beat South Africa 24-21 in a thrilling Final, the third leg of the World Sevens Series on Sunday.
It was New Zealand's first win on the 2015-16 circuit and saw them move from six place to third on the table with 47 points – behind series leaders South Africa (on 54 points) and Fiji (52), as interest in sevens heightens ahead of its Olympic debut this year.
Mikkelson attributed the determination not to give up, when down by 14 points in the second half, to a pep talk from 15-a-side World Cup-winning All Black Liam Messam.
"We talked all week that we needed a lot of heart, a lot of ticker," Mikkelson said.
"Liam Messam came back from Japan and talked about putting the mana [pride] back in the jersey, after the last couple of tournaments, and that's what we wanted to do.
"We talked about securing the kick-offs and we bumbled a few and put ourselves under pressure, but we knew if we could keep the ball in hand we could win."
Looking ahead to Round Four in Sydney next week, he said: "We've only been together a week, so it's pretty good what the boys put together this weekend.
"We'll keep on working on things and hopefully we can get a little bit better in Sydney."
Sonny Bill Williams, on his debut appearance on the series, said he was "privileged" to be playing with such great players.
"I've got a lot to work on and it's a learning curve but I'm just glad to be doing it with these guys," Williams said.
Player of the Final Akira Ioane said he was "pretty stuffed" after the first five minutes.
"I suppose I did pretty good to stick in there for the whole time," Ioane said.
"The boys put in the hard yards and made me look good.
"Titch [coach Gordon Tietjens] said just have a go, that's what sevens is about, and I couldn't have asked for a better result.
"To do it with my brother is pretty special, I reckon he should have got the award."
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