HSBC 7's: ROUND 3 - WELLINGTON

[PaarlBok]

Plenty of speed and tricky-dicky footwork for sure, but will they still have enough grunt to utilise that speed for a whole match if/when Dickson, Forbes and Messam return to the NZ team?

Still, with two of the three leading teams taking quite divergent strategic paths (with Fiji sitting somewhere between the two), it will be interesting to see which fares better out of NZ power and SA speed.

To be honest I felt NZ was VERY lucky to beat SA at home. We dominate them and I am confident that our lot learn enough to dominate them going forward.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

^^ Boet, your mob must be favoured for Gold at Rio, when at full strength. Fiji will challenge them, and NZL could surprise on the day. 7's tournaments can turn on the basis of one bad pass, or one missed tackle, but those 3 should be fighting it out for the medals.

 

[Braveheart81]

To be honest I felt NZ was VERY lucky to beat SA at home. We dominate them and I am confident that our lot learn enough to dominate them going forward.

There seemed to be some strong home town refereeing in the last few minutes of the final.

South Africa should have won both games against NZ. I think they blew the first one and were dudded in the final.

 

[Dan54]

To be honest I felt NZ was VERY lucky to beat SA at home. We dominate them and I am confident that our lot learn enough to dominate them going forward.

I agree PB, your boys looked bloody unlucky in my opinion, though I not a huge 7s fan or expert, they looked pretty good to me. ABs seemed to get most of theur points and forward momentum from the 2 big boys on the wings. Still it another round this weekend, so they all get the chance all over again to set things right.

 

[PaarlBok]

There seemed to be some strong home town refereeing in the last few minutes of the final.

South Africa should have won both games against NZ. I think they blew the first one and were dudded in the final.

Yep we should have nailed them just before halftime in both matches. But then Kwagga is sucha good player and do so much on the field that I can forgive him. Ditto Specman who should have stepped inside to score on HT. To be honest I cant name a single Bokkie player who played bad. They showed against Fiji what they can do if everything click.

 

[mxyzptlk]

This has been making the rounds.

Even SBW tweeted it out, saying you don't win them all. Oscar Ouma didn't even realize who it was he planted until he was shown later.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Official attendance was 14K Saturday & 15.5K Sunday so overall ~50% of capacity (ground holds 33.5K but you wouldn't want more than 30K in for an all-dayer).

Decision on venue for 2017-19 due in March.

 

[FrankLind]

To be honest I felt NZ was VERY lucky to beat SA at home. We dominate them and I am confident that our lot learn enough to dominate them going forward.

Disagree. I think the NZ sevens team has far more upside once a few more rounds have been played.

 

[p.Tah]

An article on the demise of the Welly 7s

http://www.odt.co.nz/sport/rugby/373453/rugby-wellington-sevens-crisis-point

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Wellington has been "provisionally" awarded the hosting rights for three more years (usually it'd be four):

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/...hree-more-years-so-how-will-it-be-rejuvenated

Looks more a case of no one else wanting it (or, more likely, taking the financial risk given it lost $300K this year) than Wellington putting up a compelling case to retain it.