2015-2016 HSBC Sevens

First topic message reminder :

Well it's the Olympics next year, and we are likely to see some big names competing on the sevens circuit this time, so we may as well have a thread. Dubai is well under way already.

http://www.worldrugby.org/sevens-series

Oh, USA beat New Zealand in the pool, and then went on to beat South Africa in the quarter final. They play England in the semi final. New Zealand will face Fiji in the other semi final.

http://www.worldrugby.org/sevens-series/stage/1611/fixtures#nearestMatch

BigGee wrote:I said last week that a few of the Scottish players, Blake and Johnstone in particular, were pretty unlucky not to have made the GB squad. I think they are even more so after watching that game.

The difficulty there is that Scotland are generally poor against teams which bring a lot of power - basically NZ, Fiji and South Africa - and if we are going to have any chance of a medal in Rio, we need people who can fit in with a system and other players who can. I don't doubt they have the skills to do it, but there just isn't enough time to click.

At their best, England are about where Australia is now: able to beat top power teams on occasion but always vulnerable to anyone when their possession count is low.

I think England have blundered by not playing our best sides all through this series. Today shows that the lack of game time has left a few players off the pace. Amor's theory is that resting people will reap rewards by the time Rio comes around. We'll see.

If he had been given a chance to run Team GB through this sevens series, then more non-England players would definitely be in the training squad, and probably the final selection. As it stands, I think Amor is just going to look for stronger versions of the England players he has, rather than start from scratch on the whole gameplan. It's always going to limit opportunities for those who don't fit that pattern.

In previous years we've had lots of power and no pace, but now we're picking pretty much primarily on pace and doing a lot better. We were very much lacking pace in the Commonwealth games.

You're right Rugby Fan in that we struggle against more powerful teams but we're currently doing better than any of the other home nations!

Scotland in the final! That's a great win.

Ya beauty!!

What a fantastic game from Scotland, never say die and got stronger as the game went on. Almost makes up for yesterday (but not quite!)

Scoring against the boks from a maul. that's right a maul in 7s!!!!!

We won!!!!

Ya beauty, ya beauty.

I think I shall shoot off a quick message to Caz, the quiet Bok and then open a bottle of something refreshing.

Not going to lie, felt quite emotial at the end! What a comeback, 2 tries in what 70 seconds. Amazing scenes.

For those that missed it or want to indulge themselves again, here it is in full

WOW!!

Just seen it, Utterly brilliant game.

With a minute to play I thought the Scots were shot.

its good for Rugby, its good for Scotland, its good for sevens.

And what an honest team effort. Brilliant.

The last 4 or 5 minutes of the match are great. Good commentary from Scott Hastings "Looking at the clock, you have to think scoring twice will be nigh on impossible". I think that's his "YEAAAAHHHHH" as the final try is touched down.

To think it is such a short game and yet.... and yet...that's the first full game of Sevens I've ever watched

(okay, I'm lying. I did fast forward the first quarter of the second half )

We'll get you over to the dark side yet Fly.