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

aucklandlaurie wrote:
thats true Lester, theyve only got a couple of thousand in the stadium.

Las Vegas pulled in 75,761 over three days in 2015, and I think Dubai got over 100,000. World Rugby will face some hard choices here. NZ and Australia (when they hold the tournament on the Gold Coast) are pillars of rugby, and both have a commitment to sevens, but they can't get the punters at the stadium. Australia will hold their leg in Sydney, so we'll see how that turns out. There will be tournaments this year in Vancouver and Singapore. It'll be a conundrum if territories with little or no commitment to rugby are better-attended than places where the home team has a real shot at winning the Cup.

Never understood why World rugby went to Wellington in the first place, this tournament should have always been up here in Auckland.

Wow. NZ are toying with England right now.

All Blacks sneak home over England, and South Africa absolutely blitz Fiji.

Final:
All Blacks 24...South Africa 21.

Well done NZ. That was a good final to watch.

South Africa and New Zealand started this season slowly but they are looking good again. Fiji were imperious in the first round but have stumbled a couple of times since then. Still enough to beat England, who coughed up a lot of ball, and got out-muscled at the breakdown against both Fiji and NZ.

Well done NZ...! Great work

Referee not a popular man in South Africa

http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/Sevens/new-ref-steams-up-sa-rugby-fans-20160131

Matt O'Brien might well be officially an Australian ref but, as the son of former NZ ref boss Paddy O'Brien, it's not ideal to have him oversee a NZ match, no matter how honest he is.

Rugby Fan wrote:

aucklandlaurie wrote:
thats true Lester, theyve only got a couple of thousand in the stadium.

Las Vegas pulled in 75,761 over three days in 2015, and I think Dubai got over 100,000. World Rugby will face some hard choices here. NZ and Australia (when they hold the tournament on the Gold Coast) are pillars of rugby, and both have a commitment to sevens, but they can't get the punters at the stadium. Australia will hold their leg in Sydney, so we'll see how that turns out. There will be tournaments this year in Vancouver and Singapore. It'll be a conundrum if territories with little or no commitment to rugby are better-attended than places where the home team has a real shot at winning the Cup.

Vancouver is at BC place which is a 54500 stadium

I fear that it will not be well attended but i could be wrong.

Rugby is not a big sport in Canada and its not being promoted locally. Not exactly party people either.

I am sure there will be a decent traveling fan base form PI Islands and NZ/Aus but i can see it be an event that only happens there the once

Rugby Fan wrote:Referee not a popular man in South Africa

http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/Sevens/new-ref-steams-up-sa-rugby-fans-20160131

Matt O'Brien might well be officially an Australian ref but, as the son of former NZ ref boss Paddy O'Brien, it's not ideal to have him oversee a NZ match, no matter how honest he is.

... And wonder what the excuse was when New Zealand beat them in pool play on Saturday. Or what would they say if the Scottish referee (Adamson) had reffed both games.

Nz win Australia Leg with last minute IOANE try.

emack2 wrote:Nz win Australia Leg with last minute IOANE try.

It was another great final.

The big story of Sydney is what World Rugby plan to do if, as seems likely, NZ had eight men on the pitch in an earlier game. The result was allowed to stand, so I doubt there's any question of having the title taken away. When England had 16 men on the pitch in 2003, there was talk of a points deduction but nothing came of it.

Rugby Fan wrote:

emack2 wrote:Nz win Australia Leg with last minute IOANE try.

It was another great final.

The big story of Sydney is what World Rugby plan to do if, as seems likely, NZ had eight men on the pitch in an earlier game. The result was allowed to stand, so I doubt there's any question of having the title taken away. When England had 16 men on the pitch in 2003, there was talk of a points deduction but nothing came of it.

All World rugby has to do is copy what the League boys do in the NRL, have an interchange official, no player is allowed on the field that has been given the go ahead by the official, end of problem.

World Rugby says no punishment for NZ over fielding an extra man. It was a bad mess-up by everyone, do blame is shared. WR do not think NZ tried to cheat.

If the ref had noticed, he would have awarded a penalty. He didn't, so he didn't.

I think it was for such a brief period of time that no one had a chance to notice.

England 19 Japan 19 result in the Vegas pool stages. Japan led 5-19 with three minutes to go, so England did well to salvage something from the match after getting into a hole.

Fantastic match between USA and Canada ended in 26-26

This was always going to be a crowd-pleaser in Vegas and didn't disappoint. USA went out to a big lead and then Canada hauled them back in, scoring an unconverted try to level with 30 seconds left.

Canada then had possession and with no time left and looked like scoring a winner but a USA player got in the way of the last pass. In another world, it might have been judged a deliberate knock-down, warranting a least a penalty and possibly a penalty try. Instead, the referee blew for full-time. Canadians look upset but quickly moved to shake hands with their opponents.

Quade cooper makes his sevens debut

Japan beat Scotland to take second place in the pool behind Australia. I'd be surprised if Japan has ever qualified for the Cup quarter finals before. [EDIT: apparently they did]

Australia defeated England easily so, since they also lost to Scotland, and could only draw with Japan, translates to a bottom finish in the pool, one of their worst recent results.

NZ are already through to the quarters but they lost 0-22 to Kenya in their final pool game.

South Africa had a good series of pool games, putting away Wales, USA and Canada without any trouble.

Scotland are currently beating Samoa in the Bowl quarter final. Samoa have had an odd tournament. They started by beating Fiji and then lost to both Argentina and France. I think their decline in Sevens is one of the most notable recent trends.

England continue their poor run with a 21-19 loss to France. We've lost three of our 12-man squad during this competition but will still be disappointed not to put up a better showing.

USA defeats Kenya in the first Cup quarter final. Fiji destroy Japan in the second.

South Africa have beaten NZ 14-7. It looked like it might be a blow-out, especially since NZ drew a yellow card at 14-0 down. South Africa always looked in control, although they made hard work of it in the second half.

In the final Cup Quarter final, Australia made short work of Argentina. They'll face the Boks, while hosts USA have Fiji in the semi-finals.

I hear its lower tier only at bc PLace in Vanocuver for the inaugural Vancouver 7s next weekend

Big mistake IMO as a 12-15k seated 7s just won't bring the atoms. I expect there won't be a return to Vancouver in 2017

It's frustrating watching this Sevens series if you are British. All the other Olympic contenders are getting a chance to try bed in new players, while we haven't really got the first idea how Team GB will look. It doesn't seems as if anyone from the fifteen-a-side game is being lined up, except as a very late addition.

If Simon Armor's England current squad is supposed to form the core, then recent performances have been too inconsistent to feel confident we'll get a medal.

Fiji champions in a very, very windy Vegas. After falling behind in the first half, they came back to win 21-15. The key score was when Quade Cooper was stripped of the ball on the Fiji try line and they passed it wide to free up a man who ran the length of the field for the winner.

South Africa looked good at the tournament but Australia had the better of them in the semis.

So far in the series, South Africa, Fiji, Australia and NZ have all shown good moments, while England, USA, Kenya, Argentina can compete at the top level intermittently. Wales, Samoa, Scotland, France & Portugal all look good a times too, and have all claimed significant scalps.

Another disappointing tournament for England. We lost 7-0 to NZ in the opening pool match and then went down to USA, which knocks us straight out of Cup contention.

Canada beat Australia, which is a nice scalp in front of the home crowd, but they lost to Wales, so will have to beat Russia to have a chance of getting into the Cup.

Aside from that Australian result, the top teams have played out much as you might expect so far.

Rugby Fan wrote:Another disappointing tournament for England. We lost 7-0 to NZ in the opening pool match and then went down to USA, which knocks us straight out of Cup contention.

Canada beat Australia, which is a nice scalp in front of the home crowd, but they lost to Wales, so will have to beat Russia to have a chance of getting into the Cup.

Aside from that Australian result, the top teams have played out much as you might expect so far.

Except for aKenya who sneaked it against Fiji in an absolute cracker, the Canada Aus game was pretty awesome too.

Canada beat Russia but it wasn't enough to get them to the Cup. From a Team GB perspective, Scotland and Wales both outperformed England by getting to the quarter finals.

Wales beat the hosts - they like doing that - and England escaped an 8 game losing streak by sneaking it against France. Team GB will clearly be dominated by Welsh and Scots players on form.

I keep forgetting to watch these games!

Welcome back Gwlad

Cyril wrote:I keep forgetting to watch these games!

Welcome back Gwlad

Weclome back? Haven teen anywhere, at Vancouver Sevens.

All Blacks 19...South Africa 14.

Great game in the HK Sevens. England notched a rare recent victory against a top side by beating South Africa 21-14.

England quickly went 14-0 up but drew a yellow card before half time for backchat. Commentators thought it was harsh, because that's rarely punished, but I'd rather see it punished more often.

SA couldn't score with the extra man, as England succeeded in winding down the clock. Almost immediately, Dan Norton was baulked in the act of scoring, leading to a penalty try and yellow card for SA.

SA then promptly scored, and suddenly looked dangerous, even with six against seven. They scored another try to make it 14-21 with 30 seconds left. England claimed the restart but fell into touch with seconds left. SA had one more play to level but missed their lineout and England cleared to win.

Seems NZ had to come back from 17-0 down to beat France while Fiji needed a last minute converted try to beat Canada 19-17, so there were a couple of other good matches on Friday evening in HK.

Rain hammering down in HK with the Cup quarter finals due to start soon. There'll be a few tries scored by aquaplaning.

Great Cup semi-final between NZ and SA. NZ won, having survived a yellow card, but it took them almost two full halves of golden point extra time to do it, so there''ll be tired legs on both sides.

England took the Plate by beating USA 19-0. Not a bad HK tournament by our recent standards, but still not dining at the top table.

Fiji will face NZ in the Cup final later. SA and Australia are currently playing for 3rd place.

Strange end to that play-off, which SA won 14-12.

With full-time up, SA stole the ball and one of their guys broke clear for the line. He didn't need to score, though, he could have run into touch, or kicked the ball dead to finish. Instead, the temptation to score proved too much but he was hauled down short. To make matters worse, Australia won a penalty which gave them a chance to score and win.

Australia got close, only to win another penalty, which they elected to kick for goal, which wasn't a popular decision. Their kicker missed, and SA walked off as winners.

I would assume NZ didn't win as we haven't had a score posted by aucklandlaurie.

Fiji took the title with a good victory over NZ.

Series standings after HK:

1. Fiji
2. NZ
3. South Africa
4. Australia
5. USA
6. Argentina
7. England
8. Kenya

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

There are three rounds left.

Upsets day 1 already:

NZ outplayed by France
Fiji outplayed by Samoa
Wales beaten by Japan
Argentina beats Australia
England struggles to put away Portugal

Makes it interesting. Fiji's in the same group as England. They probably have to beat England to qualify.

NZ are real chance of failing to get out of the group round for the first time ever. They have to beat Canada and the USA. The USA aren't a foregone conclusion, alternatively France could implode.

Pool C likes like Kenya and the boks. I don't fancy Scotlands chances, although they could qualify if they beat Kenya.

Pool D will probably see Wales eliminated. Japan lead, and they still have to play the Pumas and the Wallabies.

Only just realized England didn't make it out of the pool. England beat Samoa who beat Fiji who beat England, so it came down to points difference, and England were well off the pace.

In the Cup, Fiji came from behind to beat Australia 19-14, while South Africa held off NZ 12-7. They gave NZ a last chance by kicking possession away with only seconds left on the clock, but survived that mistake.

Samoa are playing Argentina, while France play Kenya next. You'd think the eventual winner will likely come from the Fiji vs SA semi-final but the other sides have all thrown up a surprise before.

Argentina have beaten Samoa 12-7. Samoa survived a late yellow card without conceding a score, but Argentina got away for a try right at the death.

England's James Rodwell looks to have dislocated his knee in this tournament, which makes him a real doubt for Rio.

Rodwell has been a stalwart of the England sevens side, and is virtually certain to go to the Olympics if he is fit. Tall, athletic forwards with good ball-playing skills, and extensive sevens experience are very rare.

Kenya have gone out to a 15-0 lead over Fiji in the final.

20-0 up at half-time

Comprehensive 30-7 win for Kenya over Fiji.

Kenya seemed to go backwards after doing so well with Miek Friday as coach in the 2012-3 season but this was a reminder of what they can do when they have their act together, and probably their most complete performance.

The make up of the GB team could be interesting. Going into this year I thought it would be dominated by English players. I'm not so sure now. When do they select, or have they already?

At this stage I'm guessing Fiji, SA and NZ look favorites to medal (in that order) at Rio. Having said that it looks like there's at least another 6 teams who could displace them on the day. All adds up to what should be be a good tournament. 2 tournaments to go before then: Paris and London.