HSBC Sevens - Round 8, Singapore

[Braveheart81]

Cameron Clark. Club: Northern Suburbs. Hometown: Sydney, NSW
Sam Figg. Club: Randwick, NSW. Place of Birth: Johannesburg, South Africa
Allan Fa’alava’au. Club: Endeavour Hills, VIC. Hometown: Melbourne, VIC
Con Foley. Club: University of Queensland. Hometown: Brisbane, QLD
Josh Holmes. Club: Warringah Rats, NSW. Place of Birth: Newport, NSW
Boyd Killingworth. Club: Warringah Rats, NSW. Hometown: Collaroy, NSW
Tom Kingston. Club: Sydney University, NSW. Hometown: Sydney, NSW
Pat McCutcheon. Club: Sydney University. Place of Birth: Narromine, NSW
Sam Myers. Club: Northern Suburbs. Plae of Birth: Forbes, NSW
John Porch. Club: Northern Suburbs, NSW. Place of Birth: Orange, NSW
James Stannard. Club: Souths, QLD. Hometown: Brisbane, QLD
Stephan Van der Walt. Club: Souths, QLD. Place of Birth: Kersdop, South Africa
Frank Winterstein. Place of Birth: Canterbury, NSW

Josh Holmes, Pat McCutcheon and Sam Figg in.

Cummins, Holland and Jenkins out. Jenkins is being rested whilst the other two are injured.

 

[Braveheart81]

Australia are in Pool D with Argentina, Wales, and Japan.

Pool A: Fiji, England, Samoa, Portugal
Pool B: NZ, USA, France, Canada
Pool C: South Africa, Kenya, Russia, Scotland
Pool D: Australia, Wales, Argentina, Japan

 

[RugbyReg]

Jenkins was just immense in Hong Kong. Just amazing.

I liked the look of Figg the little I saw of him in one of the earlier tournaments.

We're really relying on Holmes to break the line for us. We looked completely lacking in that aspect last weekend.

Is Stanard skipper?

That's, unfortunately, not a wonderful looking team I don't feel. We need Cam Clarke to play like its 2014 again.

That HK event really made me feel we need Quade. Perphaps just highlighted by the fact we lack that playmaker with Holland out.

 

[Omar Comin']

Good pool for us. Should definitely top it.

 

[Highlander35]

6 out of 8 tournaments Scotland & Russia have been drawn together in the pool stages. I get that true statistical randomness throws up things like that, but it's surely kinda boring for the sides and spectators.

 

[RugbyReg]

6 out of 8 tournaments Scotland & Russia have been drawn together in the pool stages. I get that true statistical randomness throws up things like that, but it's surely kinda boring for the sides and spectators.

pfft, I thought you were better informed than that:

The top 10 greatest rivalries in the history of sport


1 FISCHER v SPASSKY
Chess (1970-72)

2 INDIA v PAKISTAN
Cricket (1952 onwards)

3 BORG v McENROE
Tennis (1978-81)

4 CELTIC v RANGERS
Football (1891 onwards)

5 RUSSIA v SCOTLAND
Rugby Sevens (2015 onwards)

6 NAVRATILOVA v EVERT
Tennis (1975-88)

7 AMERICA v EUROPE
Ryder Cup golf (1979 onwards)

8 PROST v SENNA
Formula One (1984-94)

9 USOVA and ZHULIN v GRISCHUK and PLATOV
Ice Skating (1992-94)

And the winner was Ice dancing, which got lots of publicity.
10 ALEX HIGGINS v REST OF THE WORLD
(1971 onwards)

 

[Braveheart81]

6 out of 8 tournaments Scotland & Russia have been drawn together in the pool stages. I get that true statistical randomness throws up things like that, but it's surely kinda boring for the sides and spectators.

That seems like some crazy luck (or bad luck).

Aside from the one tournament where they finished in the same group of four, it should be a one in four chance of appearing in the same pool.

My understanding is that Pool A will always have the previous winner, Pool B runner up, Pool C 3rd and Pool D 4th and then after that it is a random draw for which 5-8, 9-12 and 13-16 team each pool has.

 

[barbarian]

Probably the weakest squad we've put out, which is understandable considering the injuries. Where's Marmin Barba when you need him.......

I think the jury is still out on Porch. I like his hustle but I think Jeloudev is a much more well-rounded 'flyer', and probably a bit faster as well.

Will be interesting to see how Cutch looks, haven't been impressed with Van Der Walt at all. I continue to be impressed by Killingworth though - he's in my squad for Rio.
.

 

[Braveheart81]

Probably the weakest squad we've put out, which is understandable considering the injuries. Where's Marmin Barba when you need him...

I think the jury is still out on Porch. I like his hustle but I think Jeloudev is a much more well-rounded 'flyer', and probably a bit faster as well.

Will be interesting to see how Cutch looks, haven't been impressed with Van Der Walt at all. I continue to be impressed by Killingworth though - he's in my squad for Rio.
.

I thought Cutch looked good in his one tournament. I have him as a smokey for the Olympics team if he can stay fit for the last three tournaments.

I think Jeloudev is well ahead of Porch. Porch seems like more of a halfback who has been pigeon-holed onto the wing due to the lack of other speedsters.

I don't rate Van Der Walt either.

 

[hammertimethere]

Jeloudev and Hutchinson are the 7's premier flyers at this point. Pama Fou is the only one who could potentially force his way in. Porch etc. are all just filling spots while those blokes heal

 

[Brumby Runner]

Jeloudev and Hutchinson are the 7's premier flyers at this point. Pama Fou is the only one who could potentially force his way in. Porch etc. are all just filling spots while those blokes heal

But to their credit are keeping the Aus 7s side up in the tournament semis, so far. Looking forward to having Jeladev, Hutchinson and Fou (and now Holland and Jenkins too) back and firing.

 

[Braveheart81]

Hong Kong was the fourth consecutive tournament where we've made the semi finals which is not something we've done for something like a decade.

The team is definitely going in the right direction and the biggest change from past years is that we now have a lot more depth in our squad. We still weren't close to our best without some big names but there is a stark difference between where our non-optimal team gets us now compared to where we would have been a couple of years ago.

 

[Lee Grant]

Jeloudev and Hutchinson are the 7's premier flyers at this point. Pama Fou is the only one who could potentially force his way in. Porch etc. are all just filling spots while those blokes heal

Pama Fou will walk into a Rio side is he is fully covered from his surgery but he has a history of shoulder problems from his volleyball days and his recovery is not certain. He has a point of difference on Aussie kick-offs in poaching the ball and we need him.

The other flyer in the Rio team will be Hutchison who is also has excellent points of difference apart from being a fairly fast.

We don't have players that are Senatla or Baker fast so those two are our best, and Jeloudev our third.

Josh Holmes is one from left field for Singapore; I hope he is not as dozy there as he is sometimes here.

The good news for the mens' team, which Braveheart mentioned, is that despite falling from grace now and then as in our last two games in Hong Kong, we are still making the semis with several players injured or rested.

Missing from Singapore will be Jenkins (rested) and handy injured players such as Holland, Fou, Hutchison, Cusack, Jeloudev, Speight and Lucas; and also Cummins, Malouf and Kennewell. But it is at least giving the healthy players a good run that they would not otherwise get.

With Lucas out for the year there are five not playing in Singapore that will be in Rio by my reckoning (though I'm not sure of my 12th player). If the guys remaining do well it will be another feather in their cap - and if we can get the five back for the Olympics it will be a huge difference.

But we have to do better against the physical teams. Fiji out-muscled us and dragged a defender too many into stopping their ball carriers, which meant there were gaps for the offload. They played us like a fish there and also in rucking their ball and counter-rucking ours.

To a lesser extent the Blitzbokke did the same in contact though their guys aren't huge and nor were the Kiwis who dealt better with the Fiji physicality.

This is one aspect of play that I will be following closely to see improvement, though it will be a big ask without Jenkins.

The other element that we failed in were our restarts on Day 2, which was disappointing as they have been half-way decent during the season, even without Fou.
.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Big changes for NZ with Pita Ahki (shoulder), Sam Dickson (leg), Tim Mikkelson (ankle), and Lewis Ormond (foot) heading home along with DJ Forbes who's being rested. Replacements are Antonio Kiri Kiri, Josh van Leishout & Isaac Te Aute. Messam is the new skipper.

EDIT: New Zealand sevens team: Kurt Baker (Taranaki), Dylan Collier (Waikato), Gillies Kaka (Hawke's Bay), Antonio Kiri Kiri (Manawatu), Josh Van Lieshout (Counties Manukau), Liam Messam (captain) (Waikato), Sione Molia (Counties Manukau), Teddy Stanaway (Bay of Plenty), Isaac Te Aute (Bay of Plenty), Isaac Te Tamaki (Waikato), Regan Ware (Waikato), Sonny Bill Williams (Counties Manukau)

I don't see us making it past the Cup QF with that 12.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/...and-hit-by-injuries-ahead-of-singapore-sevens

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/...-captain-new-zealand-sevens-team-in-singapore

 

[TOCC]

Wonder what the crowd will be like, Singapore might have thrown up big money for this event but I don't see it been a massive success


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Highlander35]

That seems like some crazy lack (or bad luck).

Aside from the one tournament where they finished in the same group of four, it should be a one in four chance of appearing in the same pool.

My understanding is that Pool A will always have the previous winner, Pool B runner up, Pool C 3rd and Pool D 4th and then after that it is a random draw for which 5-8, 9-12 and 13-16 team each pool has.

Tournament 1 wasn't random though. IIRC, the pools were based on last years series results.

1, 8, 9, guest team
2, 7 (Whisky drinking bastards), 10, promoted team (Vodka drinking bastards)
3, 6, 11, 14
4, 5, 12, 13

So from the 6 opportunities for us to be drawn together, it's happened 5 times.

Anyway, Kenya is an OK 2nd seed. Could win. You guys should sweep your pool.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Fixtures list is up:

http://www.worldrugby.org/sevens-series/stage/1618/fixtures

Times are local so add two hours for AEST.

 

[RugbyReg]

So Clark is being rested now too, with Kingston fit.

Makes a somewhat tepid attacking unit I reckon.

1 Myers
2 Foley
3 McCutcheon
4 Stannard
5 Fa'alava'au
6 Kingston
7 Porch

the likely strongest starting unit??? Perhaps Winterstein coming in for Porch or Kingston to give him some starting time.

 

[Braveheart81]

The pace of this squad would sync beautifully with the Chariots of Fire music.

You can be certain that we won't be chasing down many breaks.

 

[RugbyReg]

saving grace is NZ are without a few key players and Fiji are resting a few too. The tournament is there for the SAFFA's takings