If the best players played 7's...

[rugbywriter]

What would some of your SAF, NZ and Aus teams be?

SAF:

Schalk Burger
Ryan Kankowski (His style greatly suits 7s)
Pierre Spies
Fourie du Preez
Bryan Habana
Jaques Fourie
Jean de Villers

NZ:

Richie McCaw
Victor Vito
Hosea Gear
Ma'a Nonu
Cory Jane
Conrad Smith
Joe Rockococo

Aus:
Rocky Elsom
David Pockock
Will Genia
Quade Cooper
Drew Mitchell
Digby Ioane
Adam Ashley-Cooper

[Conal]

Ireland

Tommy bowe
keith earls
jamie heaslip
Brian o'driscoll
stephen ferris
tomas o'leary
luke fitzgerald


full international sevens would be awesome!

no carter?? i know its sevens but i thought having a distrubuter would still be important???

[TRF_nickdnz]

Wow, rugbywriter, this is a good idea for a topic, I'm impressed!

All Blacks
Victor Vito
Richie McCaw
Ma'a Nonu
Dan Carter (play maker)
Cory Jane
Hosea Gear
Joe Rokocoko

[DuncTheDoodle]

Wales-
Shane Williams/Will Harries (Harries was in the Wales 7s side until he got the call up to the full team.)
James Hook
Aled Brew
Richie Rees
Rob McCusker (Fastest forward in Wales. Makes sense.)
Bradley Davies
Jamie Roberts (Bigger than most 7s forwards.)

Scotland-
Sean Lamont
Max Evans
Phil Godman
Chris Cusiter
Johnnie Beattie
John Barcley
Kelly Brown

I'd do Ireland & England, but I a). Can't be bothered b). Know someone else has/will do a betterjob.

[Charles]

France

Imanol Harinordoquy
Fulgence Ouedraogo
Alexandre Lapandry
Trinh-Duc/Michalak
Max Medard
Cedric Heymans
Alexis Palisson

[eatz]

New Zealand

1)Richie McCaw
2)Ma'a Nonu
3)Victor Vito
4)Dan Carter
5)Sherwin Stowers
6)Hosea Gear
7)Rene Ranger

[dangandan]

Ireland

Keith Earls
Luke Fitzgerald
Tommy Bowe
Jamie Heaslip
Stephen Ferris
Johnny Sexton
Tomas O'Leary

I'd say BOD would be too slow and would be dead on his feet in sevens.

[dangandan]

btw why don't Ireland have a sevens team yet teams like Scotland etc do? No offense to the Scots etc, i'm just surprised where a country is pretty strong in rugby they don't have a competitive sevens team.

[DuncTheDoodle]

The SRU has more money. Part of this must be down to not having to supply as much to grass-root clubs, part to players getting lower wages, ect., and can afford both a 7s and A side. Wales and ireland don't have that luxioury- Wales went for 7s, Ireland plumped for an A team.

[TRF_Cymro]

The SRU has more money. Part of this must be down to not having to supply as much to grass-root clubs, part to players getting lower wages, ect., and can afford both a 7s and A side. Wales and ireland don't have that luxioury- Wales went for 7s, Ireland plumped for an A team.

Thats debatable ...

Wales disbanded both the 7s and A side because they could not afford it. Having to pay monstrous wages to some of the top dogs within the WRU was to blame. Steve Lewis the WRU chief executive at the time of the 7s coming back that he hoped for the A-Side to resume. But it has never came back because at the time there was not enough players to make it viable and now in more recent times apparently £250,000 cannot be afford by the WRU to have an A-Side. Why? Paying people silly money again. When Ruddock was in charge he was seen as a cheap option because he did not command a massive wage as Henry and Hansen did. The 7s is also a lot cheaper to run because of the less amount of players involved but also the amount of sponsorship involved to cover the cost of travelling. Also there is a bit of money involved for doing well in competitions which also help to pay for wages and trips.

[dangandan]

ah ok, that's unfortunate. thanks for the info.

[Conal]

sevens is odd though you cant really jave test match sevens it has to be these tournaments which may be good but you cant showcase itthe same way as a international test so abey it isnt economical viable for teams like ireland to have a sevens team

[bhovika]

Wow, rugbywriter, this is a good idea for a topic, I'm impressed!

[Explosive]

btw why don't Ireland have a sevens team yet teams like Scotland etc do? No offense to the Scots etc, i'm just surprised where a country is pretty strong in rugby they don't have a competitive sevens team.

We concentrate on the real stuff, instead of that sevens crap

Ireland

Stephen Ferris
Tommy Bowe
Jamie Heaslip
Tomas O leary
Keith Earles
Rob Kearney
BOD

[King_D'Arcy]

We concentrate on the real stuff, instead of that sevens crap

Ireland

Stephen Ferris
Tommy Bowe
Jamie Heaslip
Tomas O leary
Keith Earles
Rob Kearney
BOD

Who's the "we" in that sentence?

[alexrugby]

What would some of your SAF, NZ and Aus teams be?

SAF:

Schalk Burger
Ryan Kankowski (His style greatly suits 7s)
Pierre Spies
Fourie du Preez
Bryan Habana
Jaques Fourie
Jean de Villers

NZ:

Richie McCaw
Victor Vito
Hosea Gear
Ma'a Nonu
Cory Jane
Conrad Smith
Joe Rockococo

Aus:
Rocky Elsom
David Pockock
Will Genia
Quade Cooper
Drew Mitchell
Digby Ioane
Adam Ashley-Cooper

I like your NZ team, still Carter can be included I think

Otherwise 7s is very specific to play I think, and I have seen how Moldova team suffered Wales 7s in Tbilisi 7s tour, I mean this game demands "cognition on arena" in a bit different way than big rugby, so not always needed to have mega-stars in a team

[Haysie]

Wow, rugbywriter, this is a good idea for a topic, I'm impressed!

HAHAHA even the bots hate rugbywriter!

[Amobokoboko]

Really like most of the teams altho when it comes to SA I would only pick Burger or Spies. Might add the Beast to it if he gets his papers sorted.

[ranger]

Really like most of the teams altho when it comes to SA I would only pick Burger or Spies. Might add the Beast to it if he gets his papers sorted.

You put props in your sevens teams?

[allblacksfreak]

yeah, beast for 7s???? I know which channel I'd tell my team to punch into then! lol...

If I were to pick a 7s team it would be these:

NZ:

DJ Forbes
Victor Vito
Piri Weepu
Dan Carter
McCaw
Israel Dagg

SA
Pierre Spies
Francois Steyn
Habana
Fabian Juries
Gio Aplon
Ruan Pienaar
Zane Kirschner

OZ
Pocock
Genia
Digby
Giteau
Quade Cooper
Drew Mitchell
Rocky Elsom

[dullonien]

DuncTheDoodles Wales team was pretty good above, but I wouldn't have Bradley Davies in there, too slow for sevens. So this would be mine:

Sam Warberton (good fetcher, with skill, pace and power)
Rob McCusker (Fast and skillfull forward)
Andy Powell (One thing he can do is run)
Wayne Evans (good quick scrum half)
James Hook (possibly the ultimate sevens playmaker)
Aled Brew (strong, quick back)
Shane Williams (always wanted to see him playing sevens)

As DuncTheDoodle said, Jamie Roberts could act as a forward in 7's, but I quite like the look of Warberton, McCusker and Powell. Wheather Powell has the intelligence or not is questionable, but he does offer something quite explosive. Mike Phillips is another who could slot into the forwards in 7's. Will Harries might also be a better option than Shane, as Shane could struggle with the pace of the game at his age, but Shane is still probably one of the best runners in the 15 man game, so I'm sure would do well.

[Amobokoboko]

You put props in your sevens teams?

I know it looks strange, but with the current form of most of the SA players I would add him to compensate that and to intimidate the others :-)
Secondly I have no idea to put in the SA as they haven't been playing that good since June

[allblacksfreak]

I know it looks strange, but with the current form of most of the SA players I would add him to compensate that and to intimidate the others :-)
Secondly I have no idea to put in the SA as they haven't been playing that good since June

Well, it won't intimidate the other team, it would give them a massive gap that they know they can attack. hehehe

[Amobokoboko]

Yeah you're right, maybe add JP Pietersen to the squad instead.

[allblacksfreak]

Yeah you're right, maybe add JP Pietersen to the squad instead.

Yeah, now that's more like it, JP would probably do well.

[Amobokoboko]

I know, but it's hard to come up with a decent team after watching the results of SA.

[allblacksfreak]

I know, but it's hard to come up with a decent team after watching the results of SA.

Well, truth is, I'd rather stick with the guys already playing 7s, I mean, I don't think those really good at 15s can be really good at 7s too and vice versa..

[Explosive]

Who's the "we" in that sentence?

Ireland of course

[Amobokoboko]

Well, truth is, I'd rather stick with the guys already playing 7s, I mean, I don't think those really good at 15s can be really good at 7s too and vice versa..

Ok, cool. Will keep that in mind.

[King_D'Arcy]

Ireland of course

but what's with the union jack?