HSBC 7's - Round 10 - London

[TOCC]

Pama Fou will return. Allan Fa'alava'au will return from illness to join the team, while Sam Figg, Stephan van der Walt, Frank Winterstein and John Porch have all been included in the squad.

Jenkins, Cam Clark, Con Foley, James Stannard and Sam Myers are all being rested for the final tournament on the World Series.

Holland is one of six injured Aussie players, with Tom Lucas (knee), Nick Malouf (knee), Greg Jeloudev (foot), Tom Cusack (wrist) and Henry Speight (cheekbone) also unavailable

Qantas Australian Men’s Sevens squad for the London Sevens

Nick Cummins

Allan Fa'alava'au Club: Endeavour Hills, VIC

Sam Figg Club: Randwick, NSW

Pama Fou Club: Souths, QLD

Josh Holmes Club: Warringah Rats, NSW

Henry Hutchison Club: Randwick, NSW

Tom Kingston Club: Sydney University, NSW

Jesse Parahi Club: Northern Suburbs, NSW

John Porch Club: Northern Suburbs, NSW

Pat McCutcheon Club: Sydney University

Stephan van der Walt. Club: Souths, QLD

Frank Winterstein




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Braveheart81]

All five guys rested are clearly in our top 12.

Greg Jeloudev must really be putting his spot in jeopardy through the length of his injury. Perhaps he will now miss out to Kingston?

Interesting that there is no mention of Killingworth as being rested or injured. Maybe he's not as high on Andy Friend's radar as some of the posters think he should be.

Parahi looked great for someone in their first tournament back and must be a strong chance for Rio.

 

[Brumby Runner]

That's a disappointing side to me. I would have thought that for the last tournament prior to Rio, every locked-in starter for the Olympics would get the chance to gel as a team. Can't see how the likes of Jenkins, Cam Clark, Con Foley, James Stannard and Sam Myers will benefit by missing this last real opportunity.

 

[Mustafa]

That's a disappointing side to me. I would have thought that for the last tournament prior to Rio, every locked-in starter for the Olympics would get the chance to gel as a team. Can't see how the likes of Jenkins, Cam Clark, Con Foley, James Stannard and Sam Myers will benefit by missing this last real opportunity.

Is this the team for all the London Sevens games or will it change ?

 

[Braveheart81]

That's a disappointing side to me. I would have thought that for the last tournament prior to Rio, every locked-in starter for the Olympics would get the chance to gel as a team. Can't see how the likes of Jenkins, Cam Clark, Con Foley, James Stannard and Sam Myers will benefit by missing this last real opportunity.

The Olympics is also two and a half months away and it's the last opportunity to look at players who aren't certain selections.

If we picked all the certain selections who are fit there'd probably only a couple of spots open to look at players who are on the cusp.

It's a tough call either way. I think it would be different if the Olympics were very soon but for the seasoned campaigners who are locked into the best side, one more tournament is unlikely to have a positive effect on their form in two and a half months time.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Is this the team for all the London Sevens games or will it change ?

You can only name 12 players so, yes, that's the team for all Australia's matches.

 

[Lindommer]

Gotta see how Oz go against Fiji+Hayne. What time is it, I read somewhere it's 8:19am on Sunday?

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

^^^^^^^^ 0255 AEST, I think:

http://www.worldrugby.org/sevens-series/stage/1620/match/

Time is local & AEST is plus nine hours (?).

 

[Brumby Runner]

The Olympics is also two and a half months away and it's the last opportunity to look at players who aren't certain selections.

If we picked all the certain selections who are fit there'd probably only a couple of spots open to look at players who are on the cusp.

It's a tough call either way. I think it would be different if the Olympics were very soon but for the seasoned campaigners who are locked into the best side, one more tournament is unlikely to have a positive effect on their form in two and a half months time.

Don't you think there might have been some team benefits, like cementing combinations, developing tactics etc that might have accrued with the main players all there? And I'm not saying that the certain selections atm would fill the whole squad, maybe 8 or 9 (especially if a couple of currently injured players don't make it back in time), so there would still have been some chance to give a couple of marginal players a shot. In my view, it would be better to sort out the final couple of spots in that two and a half month period leading into Rio, and to take this opportunity to get the bulk of the Rio side together.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Pool A: Samoa, South Africa, USA, Canada
Pool B: Fiji, Australia, England, Wales
Pool C: France, Kenya, Scotland, Portugal
Pool D: Argentina, New Zealand, Russia, Brazil

Standings:

1. Fiji 166
2. South Africa 152
3. New Zealand 145
4. Australia 127
5. Argentina 107
6. USA 100

Full standings here:

http://www.worldrugby.org/sevens-series/standings

It's pretty much impossible for SA to score 15 points more than Fiji, they'd have to win it & Fiji get knocked out in the Bowl QF, I think, so Fiji will be crowned Champions. Big gaps between 2nd & 3rd, 3rd & 4th etc so top six at least won't change either.

Russia are six points clear of being the lowest-ranked core team so it's almost certainly Portugal going down, to be replaced by Japan who've scored more points (21) in five Legs than Portugal's 20 in nine so deserve their place & will hopefully make a better fist of it.

The Women's Series wraps up in Clermont-Ferrand on 28 & 29 May, you can follow it here:

http://www.worldrugby.org/womens-sevens-series/stage/1640

 

[Braveheart81]

Don't you think there might have been some team benefits, like cementing combinations, developing tactics etc that might have accrued with the main players all there? And I'm not saying that the certain selections atm would fill the whole squad, maybe 8 or 9 (especially if a couple of currently injured players don't make it back in time), so there would still have been some chance to give a couple of marginal players a shot. In my view, it would be better to sort out the final couple of spots in that two and a half month period leading into Rio, and to take this opportunity to get the bulk of the Rio side together.

“It’s a big weekend for all of the players in this squad,” Friend said.

“It’s the last opportunity for them to impress me on the World Series circuit before I select the squad for the Olympics.


He gets a chance to look at all the players who might be in contention for those last couple of spots in an environment where they aren't players 11 and 12 in the squad but need to take on more responsibility because the stars aren't there.

I think it's a pretty reasonable decision to make.

If the Olympics was only a month away or less I think the decision would have been different and he'd have run with who he thought was his best squad.

 

[Brumby Runner]

“It’s a big weekend for all of the players in this squad,” Friend said.

“It’s the last opportunity for them to impress me on the World Series circuit before I select the squad for the Olympics.


He gets a chance to look at all the players who might be in contention for those last couple of spots in an environment where they aren't players 11 and 12 in the squad but need to take on more responsibility because the stars aren't there.

I think it's a pretty reasonable decision to make.

If the Olympics was only a month away or less I think the decision would have been different and he'd have run with who he thought was his best squad.

BH you make a good advocate, but I simply don't believe Friend has any intention of seriously considering some of those players for the final squad.

If anyone thinks that Cummins, Holmes, Winterstein, Porch or Van Der Walt are in contention for Rio, I believe them to be out of touch with reality. So some in the squad could have (and should have imo) been replaced by Jenkins, Clark, Myers, Stannard. That would have still kept the more likely marginal players in there to give them a chance to impress, like Kingston, McCutcheon, Figg and Killingworth.

I will stick with my conviction that Friend has missed a golden chance to get his (near) final squad together in a proper tournament at what is the last competitive opportunity prior to the big one. I don't think fart-arsing around with those players who have next to no chance of being at Rio will achieve anything for their cause.

 

[Braveheart81]

Well you're the expert Brumby Runner so Friend must be wrong.

 

[RugbyReg]

except ensure the wider squad is still involved and can cover potential injuries.

Plus we have a three match (or day?) series with Japan coming up. That will be with basically the final squad and can help create those combinations, or whatever.

Listen to Friend on last week's GAGR podcast.

 

[Brumby Runner]

Well you're the expert Brumby Runner so Friend must be wrong.

Sarcasm BH. At least I have my own opinion and I am prepared to offer my thoughts to support that opinion.

 

[barbarian]

I'm with BR on this one. I think the selections are strange. This is the last tournament before Rio, and a crucial opportunity to build both combinations and momentum.

With this squad and our draw it's very likely we will miss the Cup QFs, and I can't see how that helps us at all.

We've got our top 8-10 guys locked in, it makes more sense to keep them together and trial prospects within that set-up.

In Sevens you get so few opportunities to test yourself against the best, and IMO you need to absolutely grab them. To rest now in favour of a later training camp or series against Japan (genuine strugglers) is the wrong strategy IMO.
.

 

[Mustafa]

BH you make a good advocate, but I simply don't believe Friend has any intention of seriously considering some of those players for the final squad.

If anyone thinks that Cummins, Holmes, Winterstein, Porch or Van Der Walt are in contention for Rio, I believe them to be out of touch with reality. So some in the squad could have (and should have imo) been replaced by Jenkins, Clark, Myers, Stannard. That would have still kept the more likely marginal players in there to give them a chance to impress, like Kingston, McCutcheon, Figg and Killingworth.

I will stick with my conviction that Friend has missed a golden chance to get his (near) final squad together in a proper tournament at what is the last competitive opportunity prior to the big one. I don't think fart-arsing around with those players who have next to no chance of being at Rio will achieve anything for their cause.

A couple of new players have been flown over that are training and playing in other games that Friend is watching very closely. Still a bit of time before the team for the big one is picked and could possibly have some new faces.

 

[RedsHappy]

Well you're the expert Brumby Runner so Friend must be wrong.

What about the radical notion that, yes, Friend may be wrong, very wrong.

After all, it's more a rarity when Australia produces and appoints fine elite rugby coaches (either HCs or specialists), surely we have seen that truth on display routinely over the last decade.

It's notable how little the current calibre of our Mens 7s coaching is raised or discussed here, but surely with our inconsistency, gifting away matches late in the 2nd half where we've mostly dominated, moments of total collapse (e.g second last match v SA) and so on combined with Friend's mixed coaching record at XVs (let alone his total career inexperience with 7s), all of this should make us at the very least sceptical of Friend's judgement and grasp of what elite 7s is all about?

Adding to which as preface to Friend's arrival is the debacle of our last 7s coach being recruited in a fanfare then suddenly and inexplicably resigning in the lead up to an Olympic year. Friend's appointment felt more like an emergency ring-in than a carefully considered scouring of the rugby world for the very best mens 7s coach recruitable by Australia.

 

[Braveheart81]

What about the radical notion that, yes, Friend may be wrong, very wrong.

Is there an easy right answer?

If he picks his best team and someone crucial gets injured, someone would be complaining that he risked his stars.

If he picks his best players and then the last few players that get picked and then also get selected for Rio aren't the ones people like then he'll get criticised for not giving certain players an opportunity.

There is no real pathway to being a 7s coach in Australia. For most of those involved they might have played it during their career so they have some experience in the game and then taken up coaching (generally at XVs). It's not really something that is easy to rectify. Hopefully as 7s becomes more popular we start getting more Aussies coaching other teams internationally increasing our pool of potential coaches.

Friend and before him Bowen have seemingly done a pretty good job of picking up the pieces and getting us to fourth in the World Series.

 

[galumay]

What about the radical notion that, yes, Friend may be wrong, very wrong.

On the balance of probablilities its much more likely Friend is right and Brumby Runner and the rest of us genius, coach/referree/player/administrators on the intrawebs are not quite as well informed and clever as we think - sacrilege I know, but i am running with it.