KUALA LUMPUR: Rugby sevens legend DJ Forbes will come to Malaysia on Saturday to put the final touches to the national team's preparations for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
The former New Zealand captain will be in Ipoh on Sunday with the national squad to watch the final leg of the National Sevens.
The players will return to their training camp at Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang on Monday, where they will continue to train until the end of the week.
Forbes, 36, is a highly respected figure in the sport who has made 512 appearances in 89 competitions for New Zealand from 2006 to 2017.
Malaysia Rugby (MR) honorary secretary Jamaluddin Salim said the national body hope to continue working with Forbes until the Indonesia Asian Games later this year.
"Forbes will be helping out with our final preparations for the Commonwealth Games. It will be good to get his input as he is very experienced and is also an inspirational figure which will give the boys added motivation," said Jamaluddin.
"We hope to bring him back to Malaysia for a few more sessions later this year as part of our preparation for the Asian Games.
"He will be in Ipoh this weekend to help us assess the players competing in the National Sevens. We still have three places to fill in the Asian Games squad and he will help choose the players."
"We are not setting any high targets for the Commonwealth Games as the standard of competition is very high," added Jamaluddin.
"Our main target this year is to win a medal at the Asian Games."
The national players in the Commonwealth Games squad are not playing in the National Sevens. MR are expected to name their final 12-man squad to Gold Coast on Tuesday.