Round no2- George

[BokMagic]

Here are the different pools for this weekend`s leg of the circuit, to be played in George, SA:

Pool A- Samoa, Fiji, Canada, Zimbabwe
Pool B- England, Argentina, Wales, Portugal
Pool C- South Africa, France, Kenya, Uganda
Pool D- New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, Tunisia

Weather forecast is for some rain on Friday, but clear,sunny skies under the African sun for Saturday.

My predictions for the pools:
Pool A- Fiji to take it from Samoa, Canada and Zim could be a helluva good game.
Pool B- England to take 1st place, should be a cracker between Wales and the Argies for 2nd place
Pool C- SA to take it, Kenya to beat France into 2nd place- the French just don`t take 7`s seriously enough, they got roughed-up by Zim in Dubia.
Pool D- NZ to take it, Aus have got plenty of skills but no real pace mercants to finish off, but they`ll be good for 2nd place.

Wish I could be going, George is only a 2-hour drive from my hometown. unfortunately, I have to work on Saturday(curses!), while the wife has some financial year-ends to complete.

 

[BokMagic]

Talking to myself it seems, but anyway, here are some early results from George, one major upset and some close calls thus far:

NZ 35- Sco5
Aus 12- Tunisia21!!!!!!!
Eng14- Wales14
Argies19- Portugal 12
Fiji 22- Canada 14
Samoa 28- Zimbabwe 12
SA 45- Kenya 0
France 22- Uganda 7
SA 57- Uganda 0
France 24- Kenya 19- Kenya payed dearly for ill-discipline- they were at one stage down to 5 players, and could easily have one this one. Look out for the Kenyans to sake it into the QF`s of a tournament this year still.
England 58- Portugal 5
Argies 7- Wales 10
Fiji 47- Zim 7
Samoa 31- Canada 10
Scotland 14- Tunisia 33!!!!!!!!!
Wales 17- Portugal 5- congrats to Wales, they go through to the QF, a well-deserved result for them, they have improved substantially over the last 2 legs.
Canada 19- Zim 0
Kenya 33- Uganda 0
NZ 29- Aus 14
England 26- Argies 7

Looks like the usual suspects again, with SA, NZ, Eng and Fiji looking like sure bets at this stage for the final 4 places, with Wales and Manu Samoa being the underdogs.

 

[Bull]

Why don't the US compete in the 7's?

 

[Shosholoza]

Why don't the US compete in the 7's?
[/b]

Good question. Oddly enough the American's are the last country to ever win an Olympic Gold medal in rugby. One for the trivia table.

See SA lost the final. Didn't watch it :rahh: .

That makes us and the New Zealanders equal on points doesn't it? We beat them in the last one in Dubai and they beat us over here in George. Read somewhere that 7 of the current SA squad are staying behind and won't play in the next tourney.

 

[BokMagic]

Sad but true Shosholoza- Burger, Floors, Mokuena, Basson, Demas, Mdaka and Benjamin all have Super 14 contracts and commitments, also Noble might at some stage feature for the Sharkies in the S14.

IMO SA could have(probably should have!) won the final, but we performed a great, cerebral choke of epic proportions, dropping passes and missing tackles like you couldn`t believe. All credit to the AB`s though for playing to their strengths and exploiting the Bok weaknesses on the day, and with it reaffirming themselves as the overwhelming favourites to take this year`s overall ***le, what with not a single player of theirs being contracted to the S14. Just like SA will lose 7 players to the 15-man code, the Fijians will also miss Sireli Naqelivuki who`ll be plying his trade for the Stormers in the S14 this year.

 

[Boggle]

Demas is in the super 14 ?
sad about us losing those players though, I was pretty sure we'd be able to take the ***le this year with the team we had.

New zealand are now once again going to be the unstoppable force this year