Olympic sevens selection

[andyq]

As a promotion for Rugby generally I think the Olympics is too good an opportunity to miss. I'm not sure if we can pull out all of the best talent from the Super sides, but those players mentioned by Braveheart above would make a pretty handy 7's team.

If we can take the exposure that the Olympics would give, and then have casual watchers shift across to following some of those Olympic players back to their provinces it's bound to be a good thing.

Maybe we should try to lobby for a Super 7's comp where each of the sides field a team in a tournament (maybe during the June Test window?) Not sure what my point is... getting distracted by that work stuff

I think my point is this. Rugby in AUS needs popular support. The Olympics is popular. Getting popular support to Rugby generally by taking advantage of the Olympics is arguably worth a couple of disruptions, which when you think about it, will be predominantly limited to loose forwards and backs, which at the present we're not too badly resourced with.

- END OF RAMBLING -

 

[wamberal]

Whilst they'd want to get some sevens experience in the run up to the Olympics, I imagine if we put together a sevens team now of Pocock, Hooper, Ioane, Genia, Cooper, Beale, Foley, Higginbotham, Mitchell etc. they would mop the floor with the current Australian sevens team.

Would your proposed team of non-specialists beat New Zealand? I doubt it.


Would they go through the full two day competition successfully? Maybe, maybe not. Very different conditioning and other physical requirements are needed.

 

[andyq]

Would your proposed team of non-specialists beat New Zealand? I doubt it.

Experience-wise they may struggle to beat the current NZ 7's team, but talent-wise you'd have to suggest they are pretty fair athletes and rugby players... I don't think anyone's suggestiong we just pull Wallabies out of 15's two weeks before the Olympics starts, just that IMO we should be prepared to live with a little disruption to serve the greater good of makign rugby more accessible by raising it's profile

 

[Braveheart81]

At the end of the day, sevens still involves many of the skills that are critical to being a good rugby player.

I think that it would take very little or no training for a group of our best players who have good sevens attributes (fitness, one on one tackling, speed and ability to break tackles) to destroy the current Australian sevens team who have experience and sevens specific training.

I just think we are talking about players whose skill and ability are a long way apart.

 

[wilful]

Would your proposed team of non-specialists beat New Zealand? I doubt it.

Would they go through the full two day competition successfully? Maybe, maybe not. Very different conditioning and other physical requirements are needed.

Well it comes down to defining 'specialist' doesn't it? To my non-expert mind, you could train and condition an elite 15s player in a few months to a full season into being a top 7s player, a 'specialist'. And then transition back after the Olympics.

Conditioning Kurtley Beale may be an issue...

Otherwise you're saying that they're two basically completely different games and have already fully split. Which I don't accept.

 

[wamberal]

Well it comes down to defining 'specialist' doesn't it? To my non-expert mind, you could train and condition an elite 15s player in a few months to a full season into being a top 7s player, a 'specialist'. And then transition back after the Olympics.

Conditioning Kurtley Beale may be an issue...

Otherwise you're saying that they're two basically completely different games and have already fully split. Which I don't accept.

I am not saying that. What I am suggesting is that at the elite level, 15s players cannot just stroll into a 7s team and star, and certainly a full team of 15s players who have never played 7s seriously would struggle to beat the best 7s outfits consistently. And remember, consistency over a full two days is what it is about.


I will wait and see what the master of Sevens coaching, Gordon Titjiens does. He usually gets it right.

 

[Nusadan]

As a promotion for Rugby generally I think the Olympics is too good an opportunity to miss. I'm not sure if we can pull out all of the best talent from the Super sides, but those players mentioned by Braveheart above would make a pretty handy 7's team.

If we can take the exposure that the Olympics would give, and then have casual watchers shift across to following some of those Olympic players back to their provinces it's bound to be a good thing.

Maybe we should try to lobby for a Super 7's comp where each of the sides field a team in a tournament (maybe during the June Test window?) Not sure what my point is... getting distracted by that work stuff

I think my point is this. Rugby in AUS needs popular support. The Olympics is popular. Getting popular support to Rugby generally by taking advantage of the Olympics is arguably worth a couple of disruptions, which when you think about it, will be predominantly limited to loose forwards and backs, which at the present we're not too badly resourced with.

- END OF RAMBLING -

Good idea! The current Oz sevens squad could form two teams or more and have a tourney with the Super Rugby sevens teams in that June window each year in say Adelaide...

 

[wamberal]

A very good performance to beat England at Twickers. Shannon Walker has serious gas, he cut Matt Turner down easily. Should not have lost to the Argies, but let us hope that the Argentine Sevens Squad contains some of the Test side, they had some good ball players.

 

[Swat]

Do you think we should be looking at sprinters to bring into the olympic sevens team? America recently did it with Carlin Isles:

Talk about jet shoes!

 

[Jets]

It goes to show you even at the elite level what a difference express pace makes.

 

[WorkingClassRugger]

Good idea! The current Oz sevens squad could form two teams or more and have a tourney with the Super Rugby sevens teams in that June window each year in say Adelaide.

Wouldn't mind a Super 7s concept. I'd actually like it run over the Summer months. Include all of the Aus/NZ franchises and could reasonably look to use teams from around the region in Samoa, Fiji and Tonga. I actually think it would go quite well.

 

[qwerty51]

On Carlin Isles, that's his highlights but he has a lot of lowlights, sprinter but no rugby skills. Misses tackles and doesn't know what to do in a ruck and loses the ball often. He usually comes off the bench, still a long way to go before he's a big threat.

 

[wamberal]

Sheer speed is less important than it used to be, the good sides are so well aligned in defense that overlaps are rare.

That said, the more speed in the squad, the better, all things considered.

 

[wilful]

"just started playing rugby twelve weeks ago" which makes it pretty.fucking.unbelievable.

tell you what, if you're an elite national level sprinter but just not quite fast enough to make it into the $$/Olympics, this would be a much more fun and comradely way of being an athlete than running laps on tracks all the time.

 

[TOCC]

Speed is why poached Shannon Walker from the NRL, he has awesome speed and acceleration yet the 'rugby' skills aren't exactly top quality.
But in the game of 7's the added space changes the dynamics..

 

[Nusadan]

Speed is why poached Shannon Walker from the NRL, he has awesome speed and acceleration yet the 'rugby' skills aren't exactly top quality.
But in the game of 7's the added space changes the dynamics..

He missed a tackle (more like failed to attempt one) against the Argies in the Gold Coast 7s which saw the Aussies bundled out of the final stages...and hasn't been seen since in the next two tournaments...reports of an injury on his part I find that very sceptical.

 

[TOCC]

He missed a tackle (more like failed to attempt one) against the Argies in the Gold Coast 7s which saw the Aussies bundled out of the final stages.and hasn't been seen since in the next two tournaments.reports of an injury on his part I find that very sceptical.

Lol, he isn't the first player to miss a tackle, they aren't faking an iniury

 

[qwerty51]

Yep I'm pretty sceptical of just bringing in pure pace guys, in 7s it's critical not to have any weak links. One missed tackle usually leads to a try. If the opposition know you're a poor defender or can't compete in the rucks you're just going to get exploited out there.

 

[Nusadan]

Lol, he isn't the first player to miss a tackle, they aren't faking an iniury

O'Connor wants players who perform in crunch time situations and Walker was found wanting there...his feeble attempt was just simply pathetic at his home ground of all places!

 

[TOCC]

O'Connor wants players who perform in crunch time situations and Walker was found wanting there.his feeble attempt was just simply pathetic at his home ground of all places!

fair enough, but having watched the Aussie 7's team quite often nearly every player has missed critical tackles or made stupid decisions which have resulted in tries to the opposition at some point.....

And to suggest O'Connor is telling the media that he is injured so he doesn't have to pick him is a bit too much of a conspiracy for my liking.