Hong Kong Sevens

[Juggernaut]

Congratulations to the Kiwis. Gotta hand it to them... stuck to the game plan and played as a TEAM.



Fiji were awful from Day 1. They were lethargic and unfit No game plan and their defence were bloody crap, even Zimbabwe scored 2 tries against us.

 

[candybum]

Fiji just isn't the same without Serevi! Ryders awesome but still.

What about Marika VUUUUNIBAKAAAA haha what a old guy

 

[Steve-o]

Great to see the Bok sevens team being more competitive now that they have some stability and continuity, having players exclusively for sevens now.

Oh yeahhhh, almost forgot.
Well done NZ

 

[dwepener]

Unbelievable final very disappointed that SA lost in the Final again, but hats off to NZ.

 

[Juggernaut]

The problem with us was that we picked a bunch of guys based on their reputation and not fitness & form....and also the limited time (2 weeks in fact) given to the team to train and come up with a combination. I whole-heartedly blame this on the FRU as they insisted on picking the team with only 3 weeks before the HK tourney and then *making sure* the Fiji coach picks the players they want, not who the coach wants. (just my imagination working here)

I knew after the Pool games that we wont make it and was actually surprised that we managed to beat Wales in the quarters. We had no game plan, our defence was non-existant and no follow ups, our fitness was below par and we didnt play as a team. Too much individualism.

Ryder, Volavola & Roko all arrived into the country, from overseas clubs, just 2 days before being named in the squad. They were carrying too much body weight (although suited to XVs rugby, but not 7s). Vunibaka is well & truly past it. How and why they were selected in the first place is a mystery...

I would have preferred if we had taken a bunch of younger guys to get the experience needed before we defend our World ***le in Dubai next year.

 

[Gay-Guy]

Tietchens has copied the Samoan game plan from last year and built on it. Samoa used to struggle keeping up with the pace of all the other nations so last year they changed their game plan and decided to play "possession" sevens. They trained their players who were not the quickest to support each other at every possible contact and to create the ruck FIRST before the opposition came in. NZ also realised that they could not keep up with Fiji and South Africa when it came to speed and when they saw the success that the Samoans were having with LESS speed they took the template and chose players who were not the fastest but definitely had an edge on others when it came to ruck strength and especially strength in the tackle. So now they just bully other countries with individual STRENGTH and also strength with their numbers at the breakdown. The fastest players in the world will start to wilt if they have to tackle all the time. At one point in the final they showed the passing stats of NZ and SA and it had NZ at 48 completed passes to S.A 8 passes! The best speedsters in the world can not attack when they have little possession and are getting tired legs when they are tackling hard out. Eventually when S.A did get the ball to attack they really had little left in the tank to showoff their speed.



The bottom line is....Tietchens can see when the focus of sevens evolves and he too takes on board what is neccesary to adapt with the times....he is not a dinosaur who lives in the past with methods and tactics.

 

[candybum]

lol He is quite brilliant!

 

[ra5137]

man.... u gotta watch out for caleb brown and james o'conner, they will rip up this year