USA Sevens, 10th-12th February 2012.

[TRF_Darwin]

The IRB Sevens series moves to Las Vegas this weekend. New Zealand's win last weekend gives them a very narrow lead over Fiji at the top the series table, though both England and South Africa are still well in contention:





1
http://www.irbsevens.com/imgml/IRB/flags/s/NZL.gif
NEW ZEALAND
19
10
22
22
0
0
0
0
0
73


2
http://www.irbsevens.com/imgml/IRB/flags/s/FIJ.gif
FIJI
22
17
12
19
0
0
0
0
0
70


3
http://www.irbsevens.com/imgml/IRB/flags/s/ENG.gif
ENGLAND
10
22
15
17
0
0
0
0
0
64


4
http://www.irbsevens.com/imgml/IRB/flags/s/RSA.gif
SOUTH AFRICA
17
12
19
13
0
0
0
0
0
61


5
http://www.irbsevens.com/imgml/IRB/flags/s/FRA.gif
FRANCE
10
19
10
10
0
0
0
0
0
49


6
http://www.irbsevens.com/imgml/IRB/flags/s/SAM.gif
SAMOA
12
3
17
15
0
0
0
0
0
47


7
http://www.irbsevens.com/imgml/IRB/flags/s/AUS.gif
AUSTRALIA
15
13
10
7
0
0
0
0
0
45


8
http://www.irbsevens.com/imgml/IRB/flags/s/WAL.gif
WALES
13
10
13
5
0
0
0
0
0
41


9
http://www.irbsevens.com/imgml/IRB/flags/s/ARG.gif
ARGENTINA
8
15
5
5
0
0
0
0
0
33


10
http://www.irbsevens.com/imgml/IRB/flags/s/SCO.gif
SCOTLAND
7
8
8
3
0
0
0
0
0
26


11
http://www.irbsevens.com/imgml/IRB/flags/s/CAN.gif
CANADA
0
5
7
10
0
0
0
0
0
22


12
http://www.irbsevens.com/imgml/IRB/flags/s/USA.gif
UNITED STATES
5
7
5
1
0
0
0
0
0
18


13
http://www.irbsevens.com/imgml/IRB/flags/s/TON.gif
TONGA
5
0
0
12
0
0
0
0
0
17


14
http://www.irbsevens.com/imgml/IRB/flags/s/KEN.gif
KENYA
1
2
2
8
0
0
0
0
0
13




The Pools have been drawn as follows:

Pool A: New Zealand, Samoa, Australia, Japan
Pool B: Fiji, Canada, Argentina, United States
Pool C: France, South Africa, Wales, Uruguay
Pool D: Kenya, England, Scotland, Brazil


New Zealand have been forced to make two changes to their squad from Wellington, with Waisake Naholo and Johnathan Malo replacing Hosea Gear (who has returned to the Highlanders) and Toby Arnold (who is injured). The full squad:
Tomasi Cama, DJ Forbes, Frank Halai, Bryce Heem, Mark Jackman, Solomon King, Johnathan Malo, Tim Mikkelson, Waisake Naholo, Charles Piutau, Lote Raikabula, Ardie Savea.

[Seaton]

US of A and Canada in the same pool :)

Hopefully we can put a score on Brazil, this is the 'easiest' group Scotland has had so far in terms of progressing to the Cup quarters.

I think England will beat Kenya, so Kenya vs Scotland should decide second place in the pool.

[TRF_Darwin]

US of A and Canada in the same pool :)

Hopefully we can put a score on Brazil, this is the 'easiest' group Scotland has had so far in terms of progressing to the Cup quarters.

I think England will beat Kenya, so Kenya vs Scotland should decide second place in the pool.

Should be a good match too: Kenya (who had easily their best tournament of the year in Wellington) narrowly beat Scotland last weekend 14-5. I felt Scotland played better than their results indicated on the first day too: they were leading New Zealand at half-time, and got very close to beating Samoa, and perhaps would have too if they hadn't had a player sent off early in the second half (while leading 14-7).

[TRF_Olyy]

That's a cracking group for England.
No offence to any of the teams, but I'd rather them then Samoa and Australia or South Africa and Wales!

[Seaton]

Australia were pants last tournament mind.

[TRF_Darwin]

That's a cracking group for England.
No offence to any of the teams, but I'd rather them then Samoa and Australia or South Africa and Wales!

Not the hardest of groups for England, but you have to be careful with Kenya (as they looked much better in Wellington in the weekend), and Scotland look capable of causing an upset. As a NZ supporter I'm certainly not worried about having Australia in our group - they were pretty poor in the Wellington in the weekend - they drew with France, struggled to a win over Canada (14-12), and were beaten twice by Kenya (including a 35-10 thrashing on day 1.... a highlight for me :D).

EDIT: Or this sums it up just as well:
Australia were pants last tournament mind.

[William18]

Pools A and C look a bit too tough to me.

[Mary7]

Gee NZ, Samoa and Australia in pool A, damn tough!!

[TRF_Darwin]

Gee NZ, Samoa and Australia in pool A, damn tough!!

see:
Australia were pants last tournament mind.

I see Pool C (with France, South Africa, and Wales) as arguably the toughest pool.

[Seaton]

By f*** I am bad with timezones.

You do Biology right? Can you work out what time and day this 'should' be shown 'live' in GMT?

[Seaton]

Aha! I am not the only one having problems!

If London is 8 hours ahead of Las Vegas, then 16:00 there would be midnight in London would it not?

[TRF_Darwin]

By f*** I am bad with timezones.

You do Biology right? Can you work out what time and day this 'should' be shown 'live' in GMT?

The USA Sevens is over three days, and starts at a different time each day (just to confuse things). Las Vegas is - 8 hours GMT hence I'd expect the live games to be on at the following times:

10/2 : 1st game 16.00 local time = 00.00 GMT (11/2)
11/2 : 1st game 12.00 local time = 20.00 GMT (11/2)
12/2 : 1st game 09.20 local time = 17.20 GMT (12/2)

EDIT:

Aha! I am not the only one having problems!

If London is 8 hours ahead of Las Vegas, then 16:00 there would be midnight in London would it not?

Got me! I thought I had deleted it before anyone would notice :D

[Seaton]

Saturday morning it is then! Thanks.

[Little Guy]

A great start to the action so far, Argenitna nearly beat Fiji and the United States-Canada game was a hard fought affair with a rally from Canada winning 19-12.

[TRF_Darwin]

Wales have just beaten France too thanks to a late try. Great start to the tournament again!

[Seaton]

Once again I am left with no way to view this :/

[Mary7]

I set my alarm for 02.00, watched the first few matches, then woke up when it was all over...Luckily I know myself too well and taped it all!!!

[SportingNonsense]

Wales have just beaten France too thanks to a late try. Great start to the tournament again!

Important win for Wales. Hopefully able to get back into the Cup QFs with a win over Uruguay, make up for the New Zealand round

[Muzzy]

Looks like a bigger attendance for pool games in Las Vegas than there was at Wellington

[TRF_Darwin]

Only managed to catch a couple of matches on day 1, but there were some good matches again. Scotland will be pretty gutted after two narrow losses to Kenya and England (thanks to a last second try). South Africa and New Zealand looked relatively comfortable in their two games, but England was really challenged by Scotland, and Fiji weren't that impressive vs USA or Argentina.

Day 2 is already underway: Australia just snuck past Japan 10-7...

[Seaton]

Why can't we ever have all these off form teams in our pool. ARGH!

Harrumph, how can one sports broadcasting company in Africa manage to show all the games live, but not one source in the UK is showing a single pool game of this live?!?

[TRF_Darwin]

Didn't catch many of todays game - happy that NZ made it into the semis after sneaking past England in the quarters.

Tomorrows Cup semis are:

New Zealand v South Africa
Samoa v Fiji

Not great news for the Scottish Sevens fans, with a 1 point loss to Japan in the Bowl quarter-finals....

[Seaton]

:/

I swear this is the first sporting event in the history of ever where something being broadcast live doesn't have a single working stream.

It is much more infuriating when your team is doing shit, but you don't where they are most specifically doing shit, and thus cannot moan about them being so ****.

Off to gipey Wales to watch the XV team being ******-******* ***** **** **** :/

[Mary7]

NZ / SA Always a hard match to watch in our house. My daughter and I for New Zealand and hubby for SA.....:huh: go New Zealand :D

[Me 1]

Why can't we ever have all these off form teams in our pool. ARGH!

Harrumph, how can one sports broadcasting company in Africa manage to show all the games live, but not one source in the UK is showing a single pool game of this live?!?

Tell me about it, all I ever get to see is the half an hour long highlights on S4C, and I love sevens:(

[TRF_Cymro]

Urgh ... not a fan of the US commentary on Sky.

[TRF_Darwin]

NZ / SA Always a hard match to watch in our house. My daughter and I for New Zealand and hubby for SA.....:huh: go New Zealand :D

Should be a very close game too! Not far away now...

Day 3 well underway: Argentina just beat England 21-19!

EDIT: CAAAMMMMAAAA..... NZ 10-0 over South Africa just before half-time. Make that 15-0. South Africa stupidly trying to run there ball from their own tryline with time up on the clock, and a man down :rolleyes:

[TRF_Darwin]

Congrats to Samoa!

Great final, with Samoa defeating New Zealand 26-19 in a very close match. Samoa were leading by 19-5 with only three minutes remaining, but two late NZ tries evened it up at 19-19, then Samoa scored with time up on the clock to win the match.

I was very impressed with Samoa's defense, with NZ really struggling to break the line. NZ really missed the power and pace of Frank Halai, who missed the final through injury. This certainly can't be used as an excuse though, as Samoa themselves were missing Uale Mai, who is equally (if not more) important to Samoa as Halai is to NZ. I thought Samoa's work at the breakdown was exceptional at times too - I believe one of the keys to defeating NZ is to match them at the breakdown (which very few teams do), and I thought Samoa had the edge at the breakdown in this match.

Bring on Hong Kong in two weeks!

[Aedaphon]

Highlights from every day of each series can be found on the IRB's channel:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAvPUeHxUSE&feature=g-u-u&context=G2f8b5ceFUAAAAAAAAAA

Dramatic final, well done Samoa!

[Mary7]

What a final, well done Samoa, heartbreaking stuff!!!

[Sam Owen]

Highlights from every day of each series can be found on the IRB's channel:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAvPUeHxUSE&feature=g-u-u&context=G2f8b5ceFUAAAAAAAAAA

Dramatic final, well done Samoa!

Thanks for the highlights. I didnt even know we won. YEAH!!....its been awhile but YEAH!!

[Seaton]

Great stuff for Samoa, and Canada further putting down the Aussies and winning the Bowl Final.

Kenya winning the Plate as well, with the Pumas putting in a decenet shift.

No one interested why I asked a biologist to help with geography? :(

[Little Guy]

Canada is now ahead of three core teams and all the rest of the non core teams even having played one fewer event than the core teams. We aren't invited to Japan though and might be stuck in the B tournament in Hong Kong which should allow the core teams to catch up. Canada and Tonga should just be handed the two core spots out of three that are up for grabs while everyone else battles it out for the last one heading into next year's events.

[TRF_Darwin]

Canada is now ahead of three core teams and all the rest of the non core teams even having played one fewer event than the core teams. We aren't invited to Japan though and might be stuck in the B tournament in Hong Kong which should allow the core teams to catch up. Canada and Tonga should just be handed the two core spots out of three that are up for grabs while everyone else battles it out for the last one heading into next year's events.

There is no doubt that Canada warrant one of the three core spots that are up for grabs next year. I was particularly impressed with Canada in Wellington, where they first topped there pools, then got within 3 points of heavyweights Samoa and South Africa on day 2. I'm sure they are now one of the teams that the top teams want to avoid, as they have shown of the last couple of weeks an ability to match it with anyone.

[Little Guy]

Canada and Tonga look like they are much ahead of the rest of the non-core teams in level of play at the moment, with Japan and maybe Portugal being marginally competiitive, if somehow Canada or Tonga get knocked out in the qualifiyng by a nation like Uruguay or Papua New Guinea the upset victor could struggle mightily being in every single event.