Auckland came in as defending champion and will again next year, but sevens coach Wayne Pivac will not be surprised if his players miss out on national selection.
The favourite had a tournament of two halves, after a huge hiccup on day one, losing to Manawatu 29-7 before seeing off Taranaki, Waikato and Otago, to lift the trophy.
"Avoiding Taranaki worked in the pool rounds, but we knew if we were going to win the tournament we would have to play them at some stage.
"We did it the hard way and had to play them in the quarterfinal," Pivac said.
Auckland then came close to missing out on the final, as it went into golden point territory against Waikato, after Tim Mikkelson scored a controversial try on fulltime. That tied the score 17-17, as Joe Webber was unable to convert from in front.
While Pivac never predicted an "easy ride", he backed his side all the way.
"We had two tournament warm-ups and won them both.
"We chose not to go to Mt Maunganui. We freshened up, and I think it was the right decision.
"I think tactically our lead-up, our build-up was very, very good and the players went really well and got a good result."
New Zealand Sevens coach Gordon Teitjens spent two days watching form and he said conditioning before the tournament was vital for whoever was to win it.
Auckland's loss to Manawatu showed that choosing to play in the North Island Sevens competition only five days previously was the right decision.
"What that confirms to me is that Manawatu were a side that competed in the North Island tournament last week ... Manawatu didn't too well last weekend, but they ironed out a lot of problems and now we see them go out and beat last year's cup holders.
"That confirms to me that all of those who were in the North Island tournament made the right call."
He said the five-day turnaround mimicked that of the international format, when players had to show up fit for back-to-back tournaments.
"As a coach, I want to see how players can back up on tournaments. We've got a five-day turnaround in the world series, so that gives me an idea."
Despite rumours he had already picked his side before coming to Queenstown, Teitjens said his 30-man squad was far from finalised.
Pivac said although he was more than pleased with his sides efforts, he was not expecting an Auckland-filled national side.
"I won't be surprised if they're not, but I'd pick some of them."
