Dubai 7's: December 2 & 3

[waiopehu oldboy]

All precautions taken, windows & screens shut/ locked, appliances unplugged etc. We seldom get hail in our area for some odd reason as the suburbs either side often do but you can bet yer ass the one time I leave the car outside or a window open, THATS the time we'll cop the hail & gale.

EDIT: once again, the storm turned out to be a whole lotta nothing. There's a Bhuddist temple 500m up the road, I wonder if all that good karma keeps the worst of the weather away? Anyhoo, Foxtel restored, fridge plugged in & stocked up, life is good

I may have said earlier that I'd rather NZ be playing Scotland in the QF than SA, looking at the score line v England I'm no longer so sure about that..........

 

[Highlander35]

Fucken stupid wankers.

First of all, it should be an option not to kick it out.

Second of all, you know the rules, why would you do it.

Thirdly, why didn't the ref remind you?

Fourthly, why even do that at the line-out? Throw it at the ankles.

Fifthly, where was the card for deliberate knock down earlier in the match? Not many clearer Sevens cards than that.

Only we could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory like that.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

^^^^^^^^^^^ Not really the refs job to tell you what you can & can't do, unless of course you ask him, but otherwise agree with your rant. Could they not have taken the tap & cleared to touch from there? Indirect kick to touch, no lineout, no England try.

 

[Highlander35]

^^^^^^^^^^^ Not really the refs job to tell you what you can & can't do, unless of course you ask him, but otherwise agree with your rant. Could they not have taken the tap & cleared to touch from there? Indirect kick to touch, no lineout, no England try.

Look, it's the first tournament any non-Australian (did the mitre 10 cup have the rule this year?)

In virtually every game of NRC I've seen over the last 3 seasons, if there's been a penalty after the siren, the ref has reminded the team that if they wish to end the game, they need to tap, then kick it out.

Absent the fact that it should be an option rather than mandatory (which is either an oversight or a deliberately stupid decision), it wouldn't have been unreasonable that the same thing that occurred here would also happen in the series.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Yes, M10 had the rule but unless I've missed something it's not mandatory to kick for touch on a penalty, it's surely up to the captain to know that or for one of the 101 water carriers etc to remind him..................

Meanwhile NZ are, as I feared, getting their asses reamed by SA, 12-0 & only midway through the first half. Maybe we'll end up playing Scotland after all.

EDIT: upside is that I no longer have to try staying awake for the 7's GF & Straya/Ringinland test.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Oh FFS! Another pass to no-one & a Blitzbokke there to pick up the bounce. This is getting seriously embarrassing. Now Rasta-braid guy is into the act, 33-0 & still a minute to go........

 

[Spieber]

On the ground level the whole setting has a Mad Max feel about it. Crowd was much larger yesterday - lots of costumes. Aust loss disappointing - some interesting ref decisions. South Africa looking best so far.

 

[barbarian]

The Scots were pretty dumb but I think that rule is dumb as well.

They need to rephrase the rule to say that the attacking team has the OPTION of a lineout if time has expired. It's a simple change and would prevent the farcical situation we saw in the QF.

Doesn't excuse Scotland though, who made about 7 errors in the stretch of one minute.......
.

 

[I like to watch]

^^^
Good suggestion about the rule being tweaked to an option.
Scotland have no one to blame but themselves.
A professional who has literally prepared months for this,should know the fucking rules.....
But I did feel for them.

 

[Highlander35]

Yeah, I never said it wasn't our fault, just that it's reasonable to expect the ref to remind you, particularly given it's the first time their all playing under the rules.

Either way, much like taking the line-out cleanly, or kicking the conversion at the World Cup, there's more than enough we could have done before the laws had come into it.

CM is making a mistake leaving 3 of his 5 match winners on the bench though. I'm not saying start them all, but swapping Nayacavou or Farndale for Lyle would be a step in the right direction.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

SA 26-14 Fiji to win the series opener, England 38-10 Wales for 3rd.

Australia 19-12 Scotland in the match formerly known as the Plate Final. Along the way beat NZ 20-12 & thank Christ we didn't have to play off against France for 8th.

[rant mode engaged]

All good tho, coach reckons we were just under-prepared & he can fix that between now & next weekend. If only there'd been a tournament of some kind that we could've used as prep.......

Yeah, nah, far better to spend the weekend at Mount Maunganui perfecting their passing etc. Seriously starting to think maybe SGT's parting comments weren't just a dummy spit, NZRU just don't seem to give a shit about men's 7's right now & don't seem to know what to do with the women in terms of $$$, training base(s) & such like.

[rant ends]

 

[I like to watch]

Great effort from our boys this week.
They definitely performed above my expectations.
We have plenty of depth with forwards and wingers,but Friends failure to recruit any ball players will be their undoing this year.
We are destined to fail, if we continue playing Henry in a ball playing capacity.
Some of the ball players he left at home are a long way from being tournament ready.

 

[Mustafa]

Great effort from our boys this week.
They definitely performed above my expectations.
We have plenty of depth with forwards and wingers,but Friends failure to recruit any ball players will be their undoing this year.
We are destined to fail, if we continue playing Henry in a ball playing capacity.
Some of the ball players he left at home are a long way from being tournament ready.

Great comment Watch. I am no expert on 7s but enjoy it, love the speed and athleticism, but for my liking and just my Opinion, too many changes being made and some of our fast guys should have been on the whole time, not sitting on the bench waiting to come on with 3 mins to go, especially for that quarter final game and for a chance to get some tries in. I am really disappointed we lost.

It's all about speed and we are not utilising it properly a little bit structured for my liking, a smaller version of a super rugby game, after watching some of the other top teams like Fiji and South Africa who throw the ball around and they have their fast guys out wide getting lots of ball and scoring all the time.

We do need a ball player. Maybe have Sam Caslick helping there for the moment ? And put the speed back out wide with Henry Hutchinson back on one wing with Charlie Taylor on the other wing, instead they had Simon Kennewell playing on wing who is no winger but would be good in the middle.

We could go better in Cape Town but with the right plan and players

 

[I like to watch]

I heard a comnent on the telecast that we go into contact more than any other side,and that the aim this year is to do it less.
Yet I see Kenewell,who has always had good spacial awareness actively seeking contact with the ball, and I see Adams on set pieces stepping back into contact not looking to beat his man on the outside,which is his natural game.
So it looks like Friend wants to win that stat again this year.

We will win games early in the year trucking it up,whilst other teams are getting their combinations and handling skills up to speed,not so much later in the year.

I don't share your confidence in Caslick, Josh Holmes, as an example is streets ahead of him right now.
Sure, sign him as a development player,but how you you sign both him & Coward?
Actually, how do you sign Coward in any capacity this year?

 

[barbarian]

I thought Junior Laloifi was with the Sevens this year??

I'd be thinking about throwing some $$$ at a playmaker with a bit of profile to build the team around. No-one springs immediately to mind though sadly........

 

[RugbyReg]

I thought Junior Laloifi was with the Sevens this year??

I'd be thinking about throwing some $$$ at a playmaker with a bit of profile to build the team around. No-one springs immediately to mind though sadly....

Part of me thinks Frisby may be worth it. I'm not entirely sure he's a test match 9. The Reds have some decent depth at 9 with Tuttle next in line, or snag Matt Lucas.

I think Pickle could take over the Stannard role, with time.

 

[I like to watch]

^^^^^therein lies the problem.
He has to take a pay cut,and give up on his childhood dreams to get on board the 7's train.

Maybe in a few years the money will be good enough to entice first string players.

 

[barbarian]

Jake Gordon maybe? Ben Meehan?

The Frisby one is a great call Reg. As ILTW pointed out it will probably never happen. In an ideal world we should have a marquee $$$ arrangement in Sevens that he would qualify for, but I doubt we can afford it at the moment.
.

 

[I like to watch]

If we are picking super squad members, then I'd have Matt Lucas ahead of these 2.
But again,they are pursuing other goals ATM.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

I've fired off an email complaint to Foxtel re. their disgraceful coverage of the women's comp & was thinking that maybe if a few others did the same it might get noticed. Here's the link:

https://www.foxtel.com.au/about/complaint.html

Foxtel customer or not, let them know what you think.

Here's their reply:


Hi Brent,
Thank you for your recent email to Foxtel, I appreciate the time you have taken to contact us regarding schedule changes. 

We realise you’re frustrated over programme clashes and while every attempt is made to broadcast the schedule as accurately as possible, all programming is subject to late change.

This can commonly happens on channels covering LIVE events (like sports channels) and Open Broadcast Channels which bump into unpredictable and late changes, we apologise for any inconvenience caused in regards to this matter.

The On Screen and Online TV Guides allow our channels to update schedules if the change is known in advance. However, we can’t always notify customers’ of late unforeseen changes.

Once more thank you for taking the time to contact us, if you have any further queries, Foxtel recently set up a Community Site where you will find a wealth of information about all things Foxtel or you can speak to our Foxtel Consultants on 131 999. A full list of our operating hours and Programming Guide and Community Site can be found on our website. 

Many thanks

Rachel Ely 
Foxtel Programming Liaison


So glad they cleared that up!