Japan (Tokyo) 7's. March 30-31, 2013.

[LittleGuy]

Round Seven of the IRB sevens circuit gets underway in Tokyo at the Prince Chichubu Memorial Ground, this weekend. Crucial stage of the tournament as relegation battles are being fought, and teams behind NZ will need huge tournaments to narrow the wide gap at the top of the table.

The Pools have been announced.

Pool A: Fiji, Portugal, South Africa, Spain.

Pool B: Wales, Kenya, United States, Scotland.

Pool C: New Zealand, Canada, France, Japan.

Pool D: Australia, Samoa, England, Argentina.

 

[dudeabides]

USA are getting another shot at Scotland who lead them by 1 point? It would help more towards not getting relegated to win more than 1 match per tourney though. Pool D looks like where all the action is this time around.

 

[Muzzy]

NZ have a pretty easy pool, probably because Canada were cup semi finalists last week. Pool D looks the toughest, any of those teams could beat each other. In pool A, Portugal, Spain and South Africa are all good teams but inconsistent, it depends which one will show up, Portugal did great last week, but will they be the same this week? South Africa can beat the likes of NZ but go and lose to a team like Portugal, Spain have been competitive with all the top teams so it really depends which one will show up on the day. So far only Fiji has won two tournaments, but NZ still leads the series for being the most consistent. So its the same for Fiji, hopefully Fiji will be the first to back up a good tournament win and win two in a row. In the last leg, England won the wellington sevens only to not even make the cup quarter finals the very next week in LA, so hopefully Fiji will back up their win. Tinai one of their few experienced players has been suspended though

 

[dudeabides]

First two games have been great, Australia beating England by 7 and samoa over Arg. by 3. Fiji v South Africa next.

 

[LittleGuy]

Pretty bad stuff from Canada, lack of intensity(aside from Paris and possibly Ardron) O'Toole taling a stupid card, he may be done with the 7's after this he's been pants in both Hong Kong and Japan. Can't see a way through the pool for Canada now.

 

[LittleGuy]

Canada looking very flat again today, not a great tournament for the team so far, it's been kind of an odd tournament on the whole lots of upsets and sloppy play. Maybe there was too much of a come down from the atmoshpere and high's of the HK 7's last week.

 

[dudeabides]

Well I would guess that blowout against Spain went somewhat better. I thought Fiji v USA was outstanding, especially the 2nd half... as long as you don't mind guys getting a little tired here and there.

 

[Muzzy]

Stopped watching after Fiji lost to Aus in the quarter finals lol. Didn't see the USA vs Fiji game but good on USA for getting that win. Was so disappointed in the Fiji vs Aus game because Fiji were the better team in that game, they blew two sure tries, one guy had a free run to the line but dropped the ball. Plus Fiji had already beaten South Africa who went on to win the whole thing. Oh well at least someone other than NZ won it.

 

[smartcooky]

Currently NZ are on 132 with South Africa second on 100. The most South Africa can get is 144 by winning the next two tournaments, which mean that NZ just need 11 points from the final two rounds.

By my reckoning, they just have to get into one of the semi-finals to win the 2013 series.

 

[William18]

We just need to win the plate to win the whole thing.

 

[sifplay]

Injuries derailed our campaign this year. But two wins in 2 finals against the Kiwi's including a thrashing is it good enough for me IMO

 

[SelimNiai]

Saw highlights of Australia v England. Im not sure I've seen 2 more disgusting kits on the pitch at the same time.

Pink and White vs Yellow and Flouro Green

 

[sigesige00]

Round Seven of the IRB sevens circuit gets underway in Tokyo at the Prince Chichubu Memorial Ground, this weekend. Crucial stage of the tournament as relegation battles are being fought, and teams behind NZ will need huge tournaments to narrow the wide gap at the top of the table.

The Pools have been announced.

Pool A: Fiji, Portugal, South Africa, Spain.

Pool B: Wales, Kenya, United States, Scotland.

Pool C: New Zealand, Canada, France, Japan.

Pool D: Australia, Samoa, England, Argentina.

The Prince ***ibu (Chichubu) Memorial Ground is not very good, because it is used too much and the turf condition is horrible.
I think that Toyota Stadium (Toyota City, Aiti Prefecture) would be better, except transportation access.

By the way, I am strongly against the Hepburn system of Romanisation of Japanese (Chichibu), because it is not based on the phonemic structure of Japanese and English-biased.