IRB 7s Circuit- Twickenham Leg

[Seaton]

This weekend sees the second to last leg of the IRB Sevens circuit take place at Twickenham. The last leg is at Murrayfield in Scotland next weekend.
Here are the top 5 rankings for this season:

1. New Zealand- 134 points
2. England- 121
3. Samoa- 100
4. South Africa- 92
5. Fiji- 90

The penultimate tournament could be the deciding one, as only England could conceivably catch New Zealand (who would need their players to disable themselves in order to not get to at least the Cup Quaterfinals). The points awarded for the two tournaments are as follows:

Cup Winner- 24 points
Cup Runner-up- 20 points
Losing Cup semi-finalist- 16
Plate Winner- 12
Plate runner-up- 8
Plate semi-finalists- 6

So, England could still finish on 171 points, provided they win both tournaments.
As said before, both these teams are pretty much gauranteed to make the Cup quaterfinals, so all New Zealand need to do is ensure they get to one Cup final, and a Cup semi-final, and England not to win both tournaments, in order to win the Series.

However, with the quality teams of Samoa, Fiji and resurgent South Africa (and the Aussies to an extent), nothing can be taken for granted. So even though New Zealand have a good lead, all it takes is one Cup quaterfinal loss, and the ***le can be snatched out of their grasp...

Here are the pools for Twickenham

Pool A

New Zealand
Wales
Kenya
Spain

Pool B

England
Argentina
United States
France

Pool C

Samoa
Australia
Scotland B)
Canada

Pool D

South Africa
Fiji
Russia
Portugal

For me, the toughest group is pool D, as both Portugal and Russia have pulled off some great results this season, whilst SA and Fiji haven't been at their best.
Pools A & B are pretty much wrapped up, with the United States and Kenya being poor this season, the latter greatly affected by loss of players to exams/ injuries.
Samoa should win Pool C, but Canada have also had some decent results this season, and with a host of Aussie players back at their S15 clubs, and Scotland bringing in XV-a-side professional players, second place in the pool isn't a given.

On a personal note, heres hoping the Scottish re-inforcements do the job as they have done for the past few seasons, where we managed to get to the Cup semis on a couple of occasions

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Going to have to take some time out my revision to watch this, should be a great tournament, with a lot to play for for England (as you said, a win is needed for any chance of coming top, and as it's in London they'll want to win at home)

Really keen to see Steffon Armitage play as well

 

[TRF_Cymro]

I dunno about D the other three looks pretty hard. Going to be interesting, Wales have missed flyer Ifan Evans for a few tournaments because of injury. I know he hopes to be fit for the Twickenham leg but its not 100% confirmed he will be there.

 

[Amobokoboko]

Noted in my agenda

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Wales Sevens squad for Emirates Airline London Sevens (May 21, 22):

Jevon Groves (capt, Dragons), Gareth Davies (Cardiff), Rhys Shellard (Cardiff), Richie Pugh (Scarlets), Alex Cuthbert (Blues), Nicky Griffiths (Dragons), Adam Thomas (Pontypridd), Alex Walker (Eastwood, Sydney), Warren Davies (Tonmawr), Kristian Phillips (Ospreys), Ifan Evans (Llandovery), Gareth Owen (Ospreys), Will Price (Aberavon)

 

[JJR]

Gonna be between BlitzBokke, NZ or England for who takes the Cup.

SA Sevens Squad for London and Scotland-

Chris Dry, Kyle Brown, Frankie Horne, Neil Powell, Boom Prinsloo, Branco du Preez, Paul Delport, Cecil Afrika, Sibusiso Sithole, Steven Hunt, Bernardo Botha, William Small-Smith.

Most of the Squad consists of Contracted SA Sevens Players. According to my Knowledge all are contracted Sevens players.
The Sharks have a "Contract Sharing" agreement with the SA Sevens, regarding Sithole.

No Chance Russia or Portugal will upset SA or Fiji in the Group as Lordhope hinted at. SA have settled there squad after having many injuries and seeing top players move to 15 a side. Can clearly be seen in the last 3 tournaments how SA have put things right; expect SA to be real contenders for the Series next season working off a fully fit squad of contracted Sevens players (Around 22 Players).

 

[Seaton]

No Chance Russia or Portugal will upset SA or Fiji in the Group as Lordhope hinted at. SA have settled there squad after having many injuries and seeing top players move to 15 a side. Can clearly be seen in the last 3 tournaments how SA have put things right; expect SA to be real contenders for the Series next season working off a fully fit squad of contracted Sevens players (Around 22 Players).

Don't write off those two, they both pushed the likes of Fiji, New Zealand and England hard in previous tournaments, as well South Africa
Russia really have impressed this season, they always had physical players, but the skills, pace and tackling have been much improved this season

 

[Darwin]

NZ Sevens squad: DJ Forbes (captain), Toby Arnold, Tomasi Cama, Scott Curry, Frank Halai, Bryce Heem, Solomon King, Tim Mikkelson, Buxton Popoalii, Lote Raikabula, David Raikuna, Shane Christie.

Declan O'Donnell has been ruled out because of a hamstring injury, which is a big loss for the team. He has been replaced by Shane Christie.

 

[kovana]

Hope the Pommies win this Tournament as well as the Entire Series.

It gets quite boring with NZ winning the thing over and over... It was a breath of Fresh air when the Samoans won it last season.


Go Samoa and England.

 

[kovana]

Some news.. Its shaping up for a record attendance again at Twicks.

London Sevens set for record crowd

(IRB.COM) Wednesday 18 May 2011

A record crowd is on target to turn the Emirates Airline London Sevens into the world’s biggest weekend of rugby.
Ticket sales for the penultimate round of the HSBC Sevens World Series stood at 89,866 last night and around 100,000 fans are expected at Twickenham Stadium over the two days.
The continued growth of the London tournament â€" already 14 per cent up on last year â€" builds on previous record attendances of 63,500 in 2009 and 78,000 in 2010.

The day is soon coming where twicks will be packed for Both days!

So the London 7s is safe for a long time... Murrayfield on the other hand...

Samoa Squad... No Uale mai, Fautua Otto or Lolo Lui..

Ofisa Treviranus
Simaika Mikaele
Alafoti Faosiliva
Levi Asifa'amatala
Falemiga Selesele *
Tom Iosefo
Fale So'oialo
Alatasi Tupou
Reupena Levasa
Afa Aiono
Sani Niue
Lole Tualaulelei *


Expect Sani Niue to start showing how good his skills are this tournament.

Forwards are still good. But our backline is in tatters... ****.. No playmakers apart from Alatasi..

 

[JJR]

Don't write off those two, they both pushed the likes of Fiji, New Zealand and England hard in previous tournaments, as well South Africa
Russia really have impressed this season, they always had physical players, but the skills, pace and tackling have been much improved this season

Ya, 4 sure, they are competitive, but i don't seeing them putting one over SA or Fiji in London; both are well aware that Russia are tough to beat and won't be complacent, like they might have been in the past.

 

[JJR]

Good Read about Springbok Sevens- http://ur7s.com/news/1515/boks_looking_to_win_the_title_back_in_2012

 

[Seaton]

Scotland showing very encouraging signs, narrowly losing to Samoa 19-15. We should have got at least 2 of those conversions, very poor kicks if I must say.
However, encouraging none-the-less, although it must be said that the Samoans remain far below the standard they set when they won the series last season.

Unlucky for Russia, were leading SA 7-5 to concede two tries in 2 minutes at the end. They worked so hard, just couldn't account for the likes of Afrika and a poor penalty attempt that lead to SA's third try.

Fiji 19-14 Portugal, Fiji have a man off, and still 2 minutes remaining, mon the Portugeuse!!!
Noooooooooooooooo !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fiji scored a last minute try to beat Portugal 24-21
Noooooooooooooooo !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahem, it seems I called this group right as being the toughest

The USA crumbled in the final 2 minutes after leading 21-14 against England
Seems to be a pattern today

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Did you see Ben Gollings? He dropped the ball whilst scoring the try and had the cheek to say he got it down when the ball was clearly knocked away from under him. Can't understand how one touch judge could give it when his view was obscured. In the end he converted well but really.

 

[dangandan]

For a team like France to be known for their running game, they are really crap at sevens.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I knew England would choke

 

[dangandan]

It showed in their game against USA. I'm surprised they didn't use Armitage and Norton more.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Well England sure f**ked up!
Ended up third in their group, and are in for the Bowl now

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Wales have somehow qualified for the cup 1/4. Must admit we played some quality 7s today but NZ are something else.

 

[Seaton]

Scotland snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against the Aussies, we were 21-0 up, only to crumble and for Turnbull to make a really stupid mistake at the death which lost us the game
And then they went in heads down against Canada, and lost.

I think I actually thought about contemplating suicide yesterday