2017-18 World Sevens Series

MN5

@kiwimurph said in 2017-18 World Sevens Series:

Overall youd have to say Hamilton 7s was a success.

Great field, they had good weather and a big crowd/atmosphere.

What sort of beer do they have at the stadium?

ARHS

Depends what time you were there. They kept running out of various things. Cider was all gone Saturday afternoon for instance. 2.5% Speights there throughout I believe.

ARHS

Just back from Hamilton. Wonderful atmosphere both days. Fantastic surface, spectator viewing and entertainment zone.

But, I lost my rag on day one when I could not access my cashless band until 5pm, just to buy a coke. After all the trouble it took to load it (it would not load in Firefox - only in Google Chrome, after repreated attempts), it was the last straw! I was told to buy a new topup for $4 to get access - which doesn't help if you leave your wallet behind because of the compulsory cashless thing! They better do away with this compulsory system next time, and allow cash (if not eftpos)!

Couple of other glitches they need to sort for rugby fans. There was no program or paper handout with the match schedule for either day. "Just download our app to find out" was what I was told each time. My phone is a bit shy on disk-space, and, the website crashed anyway. Luckily there was a timed schedule written on a wall by the Hangi tent at the far end of the entertainment area.

The other glitch was the ground announcer and how he combined with the live-screens. His definition of 'next up' or 'on soon' meant anything from 2 minutes times to 32 minutes time, with no clues as to which. His suggestion that you should miss a few games to take a look at the food and rides out back was irritating when you were hanging out for the next half hour break, and did not know it had arrived after misleading announcements. It did take approx 75 minutes in the drinks line by the way - so timing was important.

There was also no announcement of the team lists for each match. Starting lineups flicked on screen for approx 3 seconds in the gap between games - leaving no time to read down both sides. Given the absence of any paper team lists, this was surely a major oversight for interested spectators. I also heard many times people asking which teams were playing, and which team was which - granted that some changed jersey colours between matches. If the announcer simply said who was playing from each end it would have helped.

Great to see Scott Curry back to his best form, and Tim Mikkelsen setting superlative examples in tackling, creating turnovers, and drawing the man before passing. Koroi needs to spend a couple of weeks with Mick Byrne to sort his regular over-long kicking - but the rest of his game was great! But, sadly, the basic kick, catch and pass skills of the NZ team are way behind those of the other top teams. We get close through guts, and amazing defensive skills from the co-captains.

It felt like a home venue for Fiji - with hundreds of loud and enthusiastic supporters. And what an atmosphere they created! Thanks for the memory!

Damo

@chris-b said in 2017-18 World Sevens Series:

@no-quarter Waikato's effort at a cryptocurrency is it?

I'm passing again!
How come there's not yet a cryptocurrency thread?

I'm seriously in WTF territory and need some other fairly uninformed opinions to confirm I'm right.

Yeah we should have one on Cryptos. Surprised there isn't one but then I don't venture outside of the sports forum.

I bought a few different Cryptocurrencies a while back. Crazy ride compared to what I normally invest in. What have you got/want to get?

Chris B.

@damo I don't have any and I suspect I'm unlikely to get any in the near future.

I wish though, that when @Kirwan was having a Fern funding drive a few years ago he'd asked for bitcoins instead of going via paypal. The few extra dollars that I loaded into a paypal account at the time (that I've forgotten the password to) would probably be worth about half a million dollars now and I'd be investing significant amounts in hypno-therapy and other sorts of woo to recall that password!

Edit: and there is now a thread in "Off topic".

Damo

@chris-b said in 2017-18 World Sevens Series:

@damo I don't have any and I suspect I'm unlikely to get any in the near future.

I wish though, that when @Kirwan was having a Fern funding drive a few years ago he'd asked for bitcoins instead of going via paypal. The few extra dollars that I loaded into a paypal account at the time (that I've forgotten the password to) would probably be worth about half a million dollars now and I'd be investing significant amounts in hypno-therapy and other sorts of woo to recall that password!

Edit: and there is now a thread in "Off topic".

Litecoin, ethereum or XRP would be much better for donations than Bitcoin. Bitcoin is crazily expensive to transfer these days - you'd lose more in fees than PayPal for sure.

I'll check out that thread so as not to hijack this one.

Snowy

I was going to talk about the sevens, having just seen the NZ matches but never mind. This thread just turned into the Herald and Bitcoin ads / articles.

I am better than Kurt baker as a 7's player (by not being there, I am an improvement).

Anyone is a better ref than that fucking cheat Rasta. I really wonder about him...

antipodean

@snowy said in 2017-18 World Sevens Series:

Anyone is a better ref than that fucking cheat Rasta. I really wonder about him...

I'm genuinely astonished he gets to ref at this level. is it affirmative action or simply a case of "well fuck it, he's here now"?

Whereas Barnes was originally just woefully incompetent, Rasta appears biased.

mariner4life

I don't watch a lot of sevens, but did watch the big games on the weekend. We have a lot of players in our team who seem to be regulars, who can't execute under pressure.

Webber is shit. The Fijian bloke who couldn't catch a cold. Baker. Stannaway (make your tackles son!).

There are some very good players though. Koroi is a joy to watch, has real wheels, and a heap of heart. Easily our best player on the weekend. Curry, Mikkelsen, these guys are top draw, but a few others need to be looked at.

taniwharugby

@mariner4life Masirewa? made errors at crucial times v Fiji & Aus.

mariner4life

@taniwharugby yea, him, hands like feet.

MajorPom

I'll never call a ref a cheat (the lions refs tested this) but I think it's fair to say that Rasta style if reffing doesn't go with our style of play.

taniwharugby

yep, cheating is a bit strong, but seems to lack knowledge of some of the rules or simply makes poor decisions under pressure.

Snowy

@majorrage said in 2017-18 World Sevens Series:

I'll never call a ref a cheat (the lions refs tested this) but I think it's fair to say that Rasta style if reffing doesn't go with our style of play.

Fair enough, I had had a couple of beverages. Lions comments acknowledged and you are so bloody diplomatic about incompetence (or cheating). Well done.

General comment:
After 25 years of following sevens I haven't really noticed a ref like Rasta. He is consistently poor when reffing NZ and I am happy to call him on it. Random penalties and ruck infringements. What applies to one team doesn't for the other a few seconds later. If you want examples I won't give them to you as that is my impression of that little idiot over the last 6 years that he has been ruining sevens.

Tim

https://www.instagram.com/p/Be8rigUg6dM/

Nepia

@tim I wonder why a competition in NZ is named after an ex English player and an English county?

Hmmm, a bit of googling suggests it's a charity. Still a weird one all the same for a NZ club competition.

Stargazer

The Black Ferns 7s contracted squad for 2018 has been named.

The 2018 squad of 23 contracted players for 2018, includes three new players among the 20 fully contracted players and three training contracts. 

The contracted squad is (* indicates a new contracted player):

Shakira Baker – Waikato 
Michaela Blyde - Bay of Plenty 
Kelly Brazier – Bay of Plenty 
Gayle Broughton – Bay of Plenty 
Lyric Faleafaga – Wellington 
Rhiarna Ferris – Manawatu* 
Theresa Fitzpatrick – Auckland 
Sarah Goss – Manawatu  
Huia Harding – Waikato* 
Jazmin Hotham – Waikato* (training contract) 
Natahlia Moors - Auckland* (training contract) 
Tyla Nathan-Wong – Auckland 
Risi Pouri-Lane –  Ta$man* 
Leanna Ryan - Waikato* (training contract) 
Alena Saili - Southland 
Shiray Tane – Waikato 
Terina Te Tamaki – Waikato 
Ruby Tui – Bay of Plenty 
Stacey Waaka – Waikato 
Kat Whata-Simpkins – Wellington 
Niall Williams – Auckland 
Tenika Willison – Waikato 
Portia Woodman – Counties Manukau 

Waikato’s Shiray Tane returns after last playing for the Black Ferns Sevens in 2016; Lyric Faleafaga graduates from a training to full contract, while six new players have all progressed through the New Zealand Sevens Development programme.

Rhiarna Ferris, Huia Harding and Risi Pouri-Lane are all new to the Black Ferns Sevens team, while Jazmin Hotham, Natahlia Moors and Leanna Ryan will join the squad on training contracts.

http://www.allblacks.com/News/32008/blacks-ferns-sevens-contracted-squad-named