Gordon Tietjens steps down
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Many have said it before, I think we need to manage 7's independently of 15's. It sends the wrong message to players looking at or playing circuit 7's to have super rugby players come in, and none of them made an impact anyway. In many ways touch is a better fit skills wise. There must be players in NZ that have the skills and creativity we need
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Just listened to Tietjens on the TV news tonight. His comments highlight the problem sevens has competing with XVs. He identified 3 players from the U19 tournament that he wanted in the sevens programme and the players wanted to be involved. But those players were selected by Super teams/WTGs so weren't available. No mention of the names but it would be easy enough to work out.
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I'm a bit of a fair weather Sevens fan but in my less than expert view it seems the rest of the world moved on but NZ didn't ?
22 years is a hell of an effort but no one can maintain such excellence for that long. It was a bit simplistic for talkback morons to say Beauden Barrett, Ardie Savea etc should have been "made" to play Sevens for the chance at an Olympic Medal. They didn't want to jeopardise their AB careers even for part of a year and in the case of those two have achieved great things in the longer form of the game.
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Yup, BB has had a breakout season that he would not have had if he went to the 7s. I am very pleased he chose the ABs, we have our starting 10 for the next 5 odd years now.
Same goes for Ardie (not on the breakout season part) but having him in the AB camp has been invaluable to his development.
Don't get me wrong, I wanted to win the 7s medal. But I want the ABs to win way way more.
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@No-Quarter said in Gordon Tietjens steps down:
Yup, BB has had a breakout season that he would not have had if he went to the 7s. I am very pleased he chose the ABs, we have our starting 10 for the next 5 odd years now.
Same goes for Ardie (not on the breakout season part) but having him in the AB camp has been invaluable to his development.
Don't get me wrong, I wanted to win the 7s medal. But I want the ABs to win way way more.
Exactly, People were saying that they should have has a "Super" team that should have been training the moment the ABs won the Cup and that, other than the guys I mentioned the likes of Read, Smith x 2, Messam etc should have been picked. Messam had a crack and good on him but the others chose the ABs and they're totally entitled to do that. If Read for example hadn't he might have become a modern day Mike Brewer cos his captaincy position could have been usurped and he mighten't have got it back.
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There has been quite a bit of speculation since Titch stepped down about who would be the next men's sevens coach.
Names that have been thrown around are Eric Rush, Karl Tenana, Scott Waldrom and women's sevens coach Sean Horan.
Sean Horan has now stepped down as the women's coach ...**Sean Horan steps away from Black Ferns Sevens role** ALLBLACKS.COM 14 SEP 2016 SEAN HORAN *Black Ferns Sevens coach Sean Horan is stepping down from coaching the Black Ferns Sevens following New Zealand’s silver medal success at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janiero.* Horan has coached the team for nearly five years and said now was the right time to look for a fresh challenge. “I’m immensely proud of the team, the players and the management,” he said. “It’s been a huge privilege to have been part of this amazing ride.” Under Horan, New Zealand has won three out of the first four Women’s Sevens Series titles, and finished second in the fourth season of the new look series this year. The team are also the reigning World Champions after winning Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow in 2013 and won the silver medal in Rio last month, losing to Australia in the final. Horan came to the role when New Zealand Rugby launched the Go4Gold programme which aimed to attract women from all sports in order to build a strong national sevens team. “We fell short of our goal in Rio, but we shouldn’t lose sight of what we’ve achieved. We’ve built a strong platform for the future and that’s a credit to the hard work our players and management have put in over the years. "Our vision was always to inspire young women to wear the black jersey and be very proud and I think we did that. The game now is huge. There are many clear pathways for young women to embrace sevens and aspire to wear the black jersey. “It’s hugely satisfying to have been part of this great adventure right from the beginning,” he said. “We started with a blank canvas and built a great team in a short period of time. I leave knowing my successor will come to the job with a strong high performance programme established. “We’ve nailed much over the past five years. I really hope what this team has done inspires a new generation of players who see sevens as an exciting option.” The former Bay of Plenty Steamers coach said he would now take a break from the game and consider some options. “I love rugby and fully intend to keep involved in some shape or form, but now’s the right time for someone else to take up the sevens reins and build on the strong foundation the team’s created.” New Zealand Rugby will shortly advertise for the new Black Ferns Sevens coach. The four-year appointment will be through to the next Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020. -
As an aside, a lot of discussion has taken place over the last few years about the branding of the men's sevens team as the "All Blacks Sevens" team. At the time the decision to give them and the NZ Maori team the name "All Blacks" was taken, there was no mention at all about what would happen to the women's teams. I interpreted that as a sign that they didn't see the women's teams as teams that they considered useful for their marketing of the brand "All Blacks" but also that they didn't consider "Black Ferns" as a brand to be marketed.
Things seem to have changed. The "Black Ferns" seem to be becoming a brand of its own, as in the last few articles (basically since Rio), the NZR publications are referring to the women's sevens team as the "Black Ferns Sevens" (they didn't do that before Rio). Whatever you think of extending the XV's names - as brand names - to other teams (I'm not posting this to re-open that discussion), I think it's a good thing that they're now also looking at the women's teams and that they are apparently considered as something that's "brand worthy" (even if not to the same degree as the ABs).
I can only assume this has something to do with the women's silver success at the Olympics and the upcoming Women's Rugby World Cup in 2017.
