2018-2019 World Sevens Series
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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.
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@NTA said in 2018-2019 World Sevens Series:
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.
NZ drifting back to the pack happened under the last couple of years of Tietjens. Coaching isn't the main factor.. obviously people have mentioned other teams taking it more seriously now that it's in the Olympics.
I think another issue is the quality of players coming into the NZ 7's program.It seems that up and coming loosies are happier to be on the fringes of Super Rugby than to do a stint on the 7's circuit. Has greater specialisation made it a bad career option if you want to be an AB? Or even have a good pro xv's career?
I guess Niko Jones is an example of a young loosie going against that trend. But he was just out of school and on the fringes of NPC not SR.
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@Duluth Agree with that. The Ignite 7s programme only started end of last year, so we'll still have to wait acouple of years whether it will have a positive impact on men's sevens and results in more and better young players chosing the 7s pathway. I also still think that they should do a Going for Gold programme for prospective male players, just like they've done for the women. Who knows, they may identify and pick up a good football, basket ball or volley ball player who wants to give sevens a go.
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what is a full time 7s contract worth? wasnt it touted as being about $150k?
So if that is a FT one, what are the guys who are in and out of the squad? (e.g Scott Gregory)
While playing it for a season or 2, even for $150k would be appealing for the younger blokes, but there is alot of travel involved (even more than super which is saying something) so is it really a rugby career for many who likely aspire to play for the AB's (the real ABs)
