2017-18 World Sevens Series
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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11937602
Shag knocks it on the head. Ben Smith would play but not if he had to play 4 WS rounds. Titch made his choice and Ben Smith made his, according to Shag
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The squabble over those players is a bit of a red herring for me.
Hansen and Titch should be advocating as strongly as possible for their respective programs and the whole point of guys like Sorenson and Tricker ensure the best outcome - where they failed big time.
Titch said the first meeting to sit down and plan the AB involvement was in mid 2015 - directly after a test.
Seems awfully late to start planning for the Olympics and a less than ideal for Hansen to consider it a month out from RWC.
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@rotated said in 2017-18 World Sevens Series:
The squabble over those players is a bit of a red herring for me.
Hansen and Titch should be advocating as strongly as possible for their respective programs and the whole point of guys like Sorenson and Tricker ensure the best outcome - where they failed big time.
Titch said the first meeting to sit down and plan the AB involvement was in mid 2015 - directly after a test.
Seems awfully late to start planning for the Olympics and a less than ideal for Hansen to consider it a month out from RWC.
The point is that Sorenson and Tricker have no power to force players to do anything. As I understand it, Titch created a list of names and few people on that list wanted to play. The real question is should the NZRU force All Blacks to play 7's. If your answer is no, then what could they have done differently?
I imagine the planning had started earlier. That specific meeting was to nut out which players Titch would target. It would seem strange to me to get specific players to play in the Olympics more than a year before. You don't even necessarily have everyone contracted at that stage and lots could change between then and the Olympics.
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@canefan they played in Rio didnt they?
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@taniwharugby said in 2017-18 World Sevens Series:
@canefan they played in Rio didnt they?
Ioanes played in Rio and also a number of World Sevens tournaments in the leadup. They had an interrupted 2016 Super season as a result
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@kiwimurph And that didn't harm the start of Rieko's All Blacks career one little bit.
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Titch's team had gone right off the boil well before Rio. We had a boring and ineffective game plan and I sensed the players were no longer buying in. We'd be down in the last minutes and they seemed to play without the desperation I would expect of someone in black.
But by poking the blame on the NZRU Titch tries to avoid anyone noticing that.
I'm not buying. There were injury issues but we hadn't been winning with our full squad anyway for the previous season.
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@stargazer I dont think it would have harmed anyones AB career, but I think guys like Ben SMith and BB who chose not to be part of the extended 7s build up it, particularly BB, it would have affected them right then for that period
Would the canes have won the Super title without BB & Ardie? BB would not have overtaken Cruden when he did, Ben SMith didnt want to go away from the HIghlanders for as long as Titch wanted him, expect a few other slightly less high profile players probably felt the same...what should NZR have done, forced them to go to Rio?
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The blueprint was Wellington and Sydney when the Ioane bros, SBW and Savea were available. Sure, the win in Sydney was fortuitous but we had the x-factor players to win those games. I'm sure Titch hoped to replicate that in Rio but it didn't happen for one reason or another. Rieko didn't fire a shot in Rio, SBW was injured, etc.
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The 2017-2018 World Sevens Series starts next week in Dubai.
The women's tournament runs from Thu 30 November to Sat 2 Dec, and the men's tournament starts and finishes a day later.
The travelling squad for both teams has been named:
All Blacks 7s
Dylan Collier - Waikato
Scott Curry - Bay of Plenty
Sam Dickson - Canterbury
Tim Mikkelson - Waikato
Tone Ng Shiu - Ta$man
Teddy Stanaway - Bay of Plenty
Kurt Baker - Manawatu
Andrew Knewstubb - Ta$man
Vilimoni Koroi - Otago
Sione Molia – Counties Manukau
Joe Ravouvou - Auckland
Issac Te Tamaki - Waikato
Regan Ware – Bay of Plenty
Joe Webber - Bay of PlentyCoach Clark Laidlaw has today announced Scott Curry and Tim Mikkelson will co-captain the team for the busy 2017/2018 season that includes the Commonwealth Games and Rugby World Cup Sevens. “It would be tough to captain on your own over such a long season as it’s impossible for a player to play every minute of every match in a sevens season so we feel doubling up helps our group.Laidlaw has selected 14 players to travel, all with previous Sevens World Series experience. “We wanted to pick as many players that have been with us throughout the pre-season as possible. They have the best understanding of what we are trying to do and deserve this first opportunity. “What is exciting is knowing that the six or so players staying behind, will be working hard to get up to speed and that will make it tough to pick squads for the tournaments ahead.”www.allblacks.com/News/31801/all-blacks-sevens-team-named-for-world-series-opener
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Black Ferns 7s
Alena Saili
Gayle Broughton
Katarina Whata-Simpkins
Kayla McAlister
Kelly Brazier
Michaela Blyde
Niall Williams
Portia Woodman
Ruby Tui
Sarah Goss
Stacey Waaka
Tenika Willison
Theresa Fitzpatrick
Tyla Nathan-WongReturning to the squad are Kayla McAlister, back after maternity leave, and Kelly Brazier, returning from injury.The squad is already in Dubai since last weekend.
www.allblacks.com/News/31781/black-ferns-sevens-squad-to-travel-to-dubai
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Be interesting to see what effect the new coach has had with a pre-season under the belt.
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Black Ferns 7s team for the Dubai Sevens:
1 Ruby Tui
2 Alena Saili
3 Stacey Waaka
4 Niall Williams
5 Sarah Goss (captain)
6 Michaela Blyde
7 Tyla Nathan-Wong
8 Gayle Broughton
9 Kat Whata-Simpkins
10 Theresa Fitzpatrick
11 Portia Woodman
12 Kayla McAlisterSo from the travelling squad, Kelly Brazier and Tenika Willison have missed out.
Pool games (in NZT)
Thu, 30 Nov:
10.50pm: v South AfricaFri, 1 Dec:
1.46am: v France
4.43am: v USALIVE on Sky Sport Pop-Up (Ch 56? aka Sky Sport 6) from 1.30am.
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