2016-2017 World Sevens Series
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@Stargazer said in 2016-2017 World Sevens Series:
@KiwiMurph Mikkelson and Curry being unavailable is definitely a bigger loss to the squad than Collier!
As if! Turn it up! Collier is first name on the team sheet, dreadful loss, the coaches will be in pieces.
As an aside, am I right in thinking that the last 2 or 3 tournaments our only loss has been against the eventual winner?
@Bones said in 2016-2017 World Sevens Series:
As an aside, am I right in thinking that the last 2 or 3 tournaments our only loss has been against the eventual winner?
Last 3 results.
We lost to SA 21-19 in HK, then SA went on to the final and got humped by Fiji (22-0 or something).
Vancouver we lost to England, who went on to win and beat SA I think. Tick.
Vegas we got beaten by both US and Fiji. SA won the tournament.So you're close. If we lose we are losing to finalists at least (USA play off game aside).
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The main problem is that NZ doesn't always win their pool anymore so could be facing Fiji, SA, England etc as early as the QFs.
Our pool isn't that strong for Singapore but if NZ loses to the USA and finishes 2nd again they're playing Fiji in the QF.
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The main problem is that NZ doesn't always win their pool anymore so could be facing Fiji, SA, England etc as early as the QFs.
Our pool isn't that strong for Singapore but if NZ loses to the USA and finishes 2nd again they're playing Fiji in the QF.
@Bovidae Yeah, but we don't always win our pool because the competition has improved to the extent that there are now more than 4 teams that can beat us.
We are always going to have a team in our pool that are tough and we will meet someone good in a quarter - just the nature of sevens being in the Olympics. A more even mix of teams is good for sevens and probably rugby worldwide (but I don't like us losing our dominance either)!
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The main problem is that NZ doesn't always win their pool anymore so could be facing Fiji, SA, England etc as early as the QFs.
Our pool isn't that strong for Singapore but if NZ loses to the USA and finishes 2nd again they're playing Fiji in the QF.
@Bovidae said in 2016-2017 World Sevens Series:
The main problem is that NZ doesn't always win their pool anymore so could be facing Fiji, SA, England etc as early as the QFs.
Our pool isn't that strong for Singapore but if NZ loses to the USA and finishes 2nd again they're playing Fiji in the QF.
And when we do win our pool have a tendency to meet SA or Fiji. Pretty sure that's happened 2 or 3 times this year.
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@Bovidae Yeah, but we don't always win our pool because the competition has improved to the extent that there are now more than 4 teams that can beat us.
We are always going to have a team in our pool that are tough and we will meet someone good in a quarter - just the nature of sevens being in the Olympics. A more even mix of teams is good for sevens and probably rugby worldwide (but I don't like us losing our dominance either)!
@Snowy There is no doubt that the lesser teams have improved so sevens is now much more competitive. But relative to Fiji and SA, I don't think NZ has improved in the last 5 years so that comes down to the quality of the players and coaching.
In the past you would watch a game against either of those teams and think the result is 50/50. Nowadays, we'd be lucky to win 1 in 5 games against those 2 teams. My expectations are much lower than they used to be, and that's not a good thing!
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@Snowy There is no doubt that the lesser teams have improved so sevens is now much more competitive. But relative to Fiji and SA, I don't think NZ has improved in the last 5 years so that comes down to the quality of the players and coaching.
In the past you would watch a game against either of those teams and think the result is 50/50. Nowadays, we'd be lucky to win 1 in 5 games against those 2 teams. My expectations are much lower than they used to be, and that's not a good thing!
@Bovidae said in 2016-2017 World Sevens Series:
relative to Fiji and SA, I don't think NZ has improved in the last 5 years so that comes down to the quality of the players and coaching.
For sure, we have slipped against them (although we are getting closer again in terms of scorelines if not actual results).
Our other issue WRT to pools and quarter finals is that even when we do top our pool, those 2 sides haven't always been top of theirs due to the remainder getting stronger. We then end up playing them early on in play offs as @booboo says above.
My expectations are certainly lower as well. However I don't think we are too far away and NZ do need to dedicate resources into sevens now with other teams on the rise to get us back on top. Especially since they made the idiotic decision to add "All Blacks" to the title of the team.
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@Bones said in 2016-2017 World Sevens Series:
As an aside, am I right in thinking that the last 2 or 3 tournaments our only loss has been against the eventual winner?
Last 3 results.
We lost to SA 21-19 in HK, then SA went on to the final and got humped by Fiji (22-0 or something).
Vancouver we lost to England, who went on to win and beat SA I think. Tick.
Vegas we got beaten by both US and Fiji. SA won the tournament.So you're close. If we lose we are losing to finalists at least (USA play off game aside).
@Snowy said in 2016-2017 World Sevens Series:
@Bones said in 2016-2017 World Sevens Series:
As an aside, am I right in thinking that the last 2 or 3 tournaments our only loss has been against the eventual winner?
Last 3 results.
We lost to SA 21-19 in HK, then SA went on to the final and got humped by Fiji (22-0 or something).We lost to Fiji also, as I'm still trying to figure out just how much Te Tamaki won on that game. Must be a packet as i see he's taken this week off to go on holiday.
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Very close win for the AB7s over Scotland: 22-21. They had a good first half, but that second was terrible.
@Stargazer yeah Ravouvou looks a bit of a liability eh. At least 4 turnovers from him in the first half alone. Criminal ones too. Nice touches for the 2 tries first up though.
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Wow Joubert is a pretty average ref these days eh. Every breakdown he's screaming "hands off black" and even penalising NZ for not releasing the tackled player at one ruck when all they did was counter ruck. Of course after he's given US a penalty for the NZ player not releasing the ball when they didn't release him.
Edit: oh it's not Joubert it's some Welsh newby.
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Not for the first time this season nz unbeaten in pool play and then knocked out in quarters. NZ have been quite rubbish on finals days this season.
@KiwiMurph yeah that was a shit house display. I guess the very first play of the match should've signalled what was going to happen. Spin it wide to Ravouvou immediately without even looking up and watch him give it back.
