Sevens Lead In and Olympics 2024

[House is on Fire]

Is it me or does Toole like he's put on a bit of bulk? Thought he was huge on offence and defence through that game, genuinely the x-factor.

Get that gold medal and your ass back onto a plane for the springbok in a couple of weeks champ.

He was a bit bigger in Super Rugby this year compared to last. But in 7s he's surrounded by smaller players than you're used to seeing in 15s.

 

[Crashy]

wow NZ knocked out. Reckon we're a good chance to beat Fji. They have been slightly off the pace this year so fingers crossed.

 

[barbarian]

Also find sevens such a strange game. Gone in the blink of an eye.

Yeah how would you be if you were New Zealand. Train for months without playing, all for this one event. Then you're gone before the opening ceremony! Barely had time to unpack your suitcase.

 

[barbarian]

Great effort. I think we're probably the 4th best team of the remaining bunch, but Fiji aren't the force they have been and Ireland probably should have knocked them off.

Would be such a lift to Aussie rugby if we pinched a medal. And a great reward for the servants of Aussie 7s like Longbottom, Malouf, Hutchison etc.

 

[Strewthcobber]

Yeah how would you be if you were New Zealand. Train for months without playing, all for this one event. Then you're gone before the opening ceremony! Barely had time to unpack your suitcase.

Good spot for a mad Monday Friday though

 

[Hawko]

We seem to be playing a defensive style where the tackle-aim is low so we get the opposition to ground, where a number of other teams seem to be trying the high-wrestle and counter-ruck style. So far it's been working, but I think Fiji might be a level of difference with their ability to offload as they go down. Still, they have looked vulnerable at times in the earlier rounds so we are definitely a chance.

 

[Jimmy_Crouch]

Great effort. I think we're probably the 4th best team of the remaining bunch, but Fiji aren't the force they have been and Ireland probably should have knocked them off.

Would be such a lift to Aussie rugby if we pinched a medal. And a great reward for the servants of Aussie 7s like Longbottom, Malouf, Hutchison etc.

Malouf is better now than he has ever been. Absolutely no quit in that bloke. His cover d is next level.

 

[Mr Pilfer]

Yep excited for tonight, will be disappointing if we don't get some sort of medal now. I don't think we have been that amazing but the other teams have been falling overs and our defence is solid. Roache has been brilliant, needs to make the conversions though.

 

[Cockatoo Run]

Great effort. I think we're probably the 4th best team of the remaining bunch, but Fiji aren't the force they have been and Ireland probably should have knocked them off.

Saffas and French looked pretty average in the pool stage and stumbled into the last 8, but they both played well in the QF. Fiji and us have looked the best so far, so a bit unlucky getting them next. Having NZ and Argentina out has certainly blown the whole thing wide open.

 

[John S]

Saffas and French looked pretty average in the pool stage and stumbled into the last 8, but they both played well in the QF. Fiji and us have looked the best so far, so a bit unlucky getting them next. Having NZ and Argentina out has certainly blown the whole thing wide open.

Out of our games so far, the Argies were the ones that looked most like knocking us out.

 

[emuarse]

Fiji beat Ireland in the other quarter final.
I think this might suit Australia as the Irish style of play seems to have the wood on our guys,
whereas our side can often have the wood on the Fijians.
Fingers crossed.

 

[D-Box]

Yep excited for tonight, will be disappointing if we don't get some sort of medal now. I don't think we have been that amazing but the other teams have been falling overs and our defence is solid. Roache has been brilliant, needs to make the conversions though.

No game tonight - opening ceremony. Finals are Sat night

Semi 1 SA v France 11:30 AEST
Semi 2 Aus v Fiji 1200 AEST

Bronze game 3 AM AEST
Gold Medal 3:45 AM AEST

 

[D-Box]

So semifinals consist of the following teams from this year's series

Aus 4th
Fra 5th
Fij 6th
RSA 7th

with 1 Arg, 2 IRE, and 3 NZL all losing in the quarters. The other quarter-finalist was the 9th placed USA.

Going back to the most recent tournament from Madrid you have left

1 FRA
3 FIJ
6 RSA
7 AUS

The only teams remaining to have won a tournament this year are France, with 2 wins, a 2nd and a 3rd, and RSA, who won the the first and then were terrible for the rest of the season. Fiji's best result this year was third place (twice) with Australia's being two 2nd places.

RSA are probably the surprise team to still be there as they only just qualified in the final qualification tournament after Kenya knocked them off in the African qualification tournament.

 

[Jimmy_Crouch]

So semifinals consist of the following teams from this year's series

Aus 4th
Fra 5th
Fij 6th
RSA 7th

with 1 Arg, 2 IRE, and 3 NZL all losing in the quarters. The other quarter-finalist was the 9th placed USA.

Going back to the most recent tournament from Madrid you have left

1 FRA
3 FIJ
6 RSA
7 AUS

The only teams remaining to have won a tournament this year are France, with 2 wins, a 2nd and a 3rd, and RSA, who won the the first and then were terrible for the rest of the season. Fiji's best result this year was third place (twice) with Australia's being two 2nd places.

RSA are probably the surprise team to still be there as they only just qualified in the final qualification tournament after Kenya knocked them off in the African qualification tournament.

Those two seconds came against Argentina who no longer pose an issue.

 

[Serge]

Absolutely smashed attendance records with 130,000 across the two sessions for quarter final day.

 

[molman]

So semifinals consist of the following teams from this year's series

Aus 4th
Fra 5th
Fij 6th
RSA 7th

with 1 Arg, 2 IRE, and 3 NZL all losing in the quarters. The other quarter-finalist was the 9th placed USA.

Going back to the most recent tournament from Madrid you have left

1 FRA
3 FIJ
6 RSA
7 AUS

The only teams remaining to have won a tournament this year are France, with 2 wins, a 2nd and a 3rd, and RSA, who won the the first and then were terrible for the rest of the season. Fiji's best result this year was third place (twice) with Australia's being two 2nd places.

RSA are probably the surprise team to still be there as they only just qualified in the final qualification tournament after Kenya knocked them off in the African qualification tournament.

I'm not sure I would have ever picked this mix of teams to be the final four remaining. It's been a really interesting outcome. To my mind the mental pressure of the occassion seemed to be getting to a few outfits. The NZ team for example have skills for days but they just looked to push and rush things a little too much at times against RSA. They had some beautiful patterns and lines but there were too many times where they almost seemed to be a little panic-y in their play. The Irish are also really impressive, but they likewise looked like they got a tad ruffled by Fiji's style of play.

France on the otherhand looked so shaky in the pools, I honestly wondered if they were going to make it through, but they look now to be growing into this tournament. They put on a really solid display in the QF's. I can honestly see them going all the way now.

Australia have been a little odd. On one hand some of our play have looked so sloppy with wayward passing and a lot of scrambling to clean up, but we're also looking really doggard in our defence and seem to just have enough to unpick teams with players like Toole and even Marky Mark (Nawaqanitawase) showing a point of difference. We play to our full potential and cut out the mistakes (got to get our restarts right) and I think we're a good chance here.

 

[Sword of Justice]

I think our attacking play is not quite as poor as some are making out. The reality is Sevens has become a significantly more technical and forward oriented game.

Fiji struggle a bit with that, especially around the breakdown so hopefully we have a decent shot against them.