2018-2019 World Sevens Series
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Same again in the quarter-final. Why oh why bring on Ravouvou and take off Mikkelsen? His two errors cost us dearly. Did they think they had it won after Mikkelsen's stunning effort before halftime? Same players making errors again, Gregory, Ravouvou, Nareki and unfortunately not effective at the contact in second half. You can't blame Webber for the final error!
Our aggressive contact work in defence has been the strength of this team - but the penalty counts a killer!
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WTF was that? France beat NZ in the Cup QF thanks to a penalty try in referee's time. Not sure I agree with that decision. Joe Webber was yellow carded for a deliberate knock on, but I'm not really sure it went forward. It looked flat. And also not sure the Frenchman was certain to score the try, although he was in a good position; he wasn't close to the try line yet, I think.
Ah well, another missed opportunity. AB7s were leading 14 - 0 at half time, but let the French back in. Particularly, Nareki and Ravouvou not good enough on defence. Add a high tackle from Gregory, and Ng Shiu not supporting his body weight at the breakdown, and it rained penalties. Some penalties were a bit tough though.
FT: NZ 14 - 19 France
The AB7s will play South Africa (that lost 22 - 29 to Australia) in the 5th place semi-final at 1:04am.
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@Tordah said in 2018-2019 World Sevens Series:
France beat NZ in the quarters after a strong 2nd half by them and a weird penalty try for a deliberate knock back from Webber (that was deemed a knock on but clearly went backwards). Pantsy 2nd half anyways
That was my inititial thoughts too (and I did not get to see any replay of the incident) in that the ball went backwards thus completely and utterly not even remotely meeting the requirements of being deemed to be a knock on much less a penalty and even more bizarely a penalty try.
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@Higgins Yeah watched the 2nd half and had the same thoughts on Webber - actually thought he may have been going for the intercept?
Anyway our (not) rub of the green with Refs/AR's/TMO's continues.....
When I finally stopped saying a lot of naughty words to the telly, my thoughts were still that only in some bizarre parallel universe would that have been a penalty try..... -
@Stargazer said in 2018-2019 World Sevens Series:
Pools for the Paris Sevens (1-2 June):
Do you read across or down?
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@Stargazer said in 2018-2019 World Sevens Series:
And also not sure the Frenchman was certain to score the try, although he was in a good position; he wasn't close to the try line yet, I think.
Two Frenchy support runners within 10 metres, a simple offload, and an open line with no Kiwis in front. Probably a try every day of the week barring the offence.
Did it go forward? Well, the ref said it did. Unfortunately the instinct is to go for the intercept when you're 3 on 1 and it didn't come off.
I have managed to watch a bit of Samoa and NZ in 7s since getting KayoSports and it is interesting to look at the relative improvement of Samoa under Tietjens - their accuracy, fitness, and contact work is superb. NZ have not exactly stagnated, but they're not the force they were previously IMHO.