2017-18 World Sevens Series
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All Blacks 7s team for Paris Sevens
1 Scott Curry - Bay of Plenty
2 Tim Mikkelson - Waikato
3 Tone Ng Shiu - Ta$man
4 Salesi Rayasi - Auckland
5 Dylan Collier - Waikato
6 Bailey Simonsson - Bay of Plenty
7 Sam Dickson - Canterbury
8 Jona Nareki - Otago
9 Regan Ware - Bay of Plenty
10 Kurt Baker – co captain - Manawatu
11 Joe Ravouvou - Auckland
12 Sione Molia – co captain - Counties ManukauThere are two changes to the playing 12 from last weekend’s fifth placing in London, with Joe Ravouvou replacing the injured Etene Nanai-Seturo and Bailey Simonsson promoted from 13th man. Kurt Baker and Sione Molia will retain the co-captaincy.http://www.allblacks.com/News/32533/all-blacks-sevens-named-for-paris
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This selection is bizarre. Who are the playmakers now? Thought there was too much placed on Rokolisoa last week, and now even he is not there. Don't know why they are persevering with Molia and Baker as co-captains either. Will they be forced into using Mikkelsen in a playmaker role??? Or will Nareki, Simonsson or Rayasi be thrown in the deep end?
Are Knewstubb, Koroi, Te Tamaki, Rokolisoa, McGarvey-Black, Webber, Khan and Bunce all unavailable? That would put us down to 9th choice (with Reece still ineligible) at least...
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@arhs Kurt Baker is the main playmaker in this team, but not sure who the second is. Ware would be the most obvious choice, I think.
Koroi is with NZU20s (Clarke, too). Only injury mentioned is Etene Nanai-Seturo.
When the travelling squad was named, all the info they gave was this:
Unavailable for selection: Andrew Knewstubb, Vilimoni Koroi, Amanaki Nicole, Ngarohi McGarvey-Black, Joe Ravouvou, Joe Webber.So, no reason why they aren't available.
Edit: Te Tamaki is playing club rugby (Waikato) tomorrow, so not injured.
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Just seemed an unusual selection. i.e. Ravouvou replacing a play-maker/sweeper, when there is no obvious specialist in the squad. Yes, perhaps Baker will assume the role and throw-in, put into scrum and sweep - as well as captaining the team (?). But, I would see him more in first receiver role. Not sure what Te Tamaki has done to be on the outside. He looked fairly sound on attack and a fantastic defender as sweeper.
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The Black Ferns 7s also won their third game against Ireland: 17 - 0
They will now play Spain in the Cup QF at 1.46am Sunday morning. That should be an easy game.
Australia is also on track and will play Fijiana in the Cup QF. The Aussies already beat Fijiana in their pool game 24 - 10.The other Cup QFs are:
on NZ's side of the draw: Canada v USA
on AUS' side of the draw: France v England -
Full time: NZ 22 - 17 Samoa
Tries:
S Molia 2' & 6'
KT Baker 7'
RE Ware 10'Conversion:
KT Baker 6'Samoa played well, but NZ should have done better. Defence was patchy. Play was way too casual.
By the way, the results have been crazy in the men's tournament thus far.
South Africa lost to Scotland; Scotland lost to Canada, and Canada won both their games thus far.
South Africa also only just beat Russia. And Fiji beat Samoa but lost to Kenya!
Austalia beat Wales, but lost to Spain; Spain lost to Ireland, and Ireland drew with Wales.Assuming the AB7s are through to the Cup QF, it's completely unpredictable at this stage who they will play against.
The BF's are up first at 1.46am against Spain in their Cup QF.
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The BF7s have - as expected - beaten Spain: 38 - 0. Easy win.
Tries:
P Woodman 5' & 10'
G Broughton 7' & 14'
M Blyde 8'
KA Brazier 12'Conversions:
T Nathan-Wong 5' & 7' & 8'
TR Willison 13'Portia's second try was her 40th of the season.
Broughton scored her first try off her first touch of the ball.The semi-final is against Canada at 7.14am.
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It's a pity but Australia have won the 2018 women's series, no matter who wins the final. While the Black Ferns 7s beat Canada 34 - 7 in the SF, Australia again won their SF wit a last minute try against France: 21 - 17.
At this stage, Australia have won two tournaments (Dubai & Sydney), became second in Canada and third in Japan: 74 points. The BFs won two tournaments (Canada & Japan), became second in Sydney, but only 5th in Dubai: 70 points.
Let's hope NZ smashes Oz in the Final at 3.30am tomorrow morning, if only to make the point that Oz have won by the narrowest of margins. In that case, NZ have won 3 tournaments against the Aussies 2. Only hoping that the series win doesn't give the Aussies too much of a boost, and the opposite to the BFs.
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The All Blacks 7s lost to Fiji in their last pool game, as expected: 26 - 17. Fiji finished the pool on top due to a better points differential and/or the result in their game (not sure what the first-applied tiebreaking rule is in the world series).
Similarly, South Africa topped their pool ahead of Canada for the same reason.
Cup QF tonight:
8:13pm: Fiji v England
8.35pm: Ireland v Canada
8.57pm: USA v NZ
9.19pm: South Africa v Spain
