Its likely that I will be watching Sunnybank later so will see if I can pick a few standouts.My son Michael Sole is in the Sunnybank 7's team in Singapore. I don't know if he has shone much, but I do know that he is having a fantastic time, says that he has learnt so much and loving every minute of the play and the experience.
I watched the Sunnybank V Randwick game. It was surreal, randwick scored 2 quick tries and were on fire, when the heavens opened. Torrential rain & lightning meant the officials stopped play for 30 minutes. The ground was under water. The crowd were out there sliding about. The game recommenced and Sunnybank hit back with a try. It was a slugfest after that with conditions making it very tough to play. It was therefore hard to pick out any real standouts. The Randwick winger (Touvasi) was good.My son Michael Sole is in the Sunnybank 7's team in Singapore. I don't know if he has shone much, but I do know that he is having a fantastic time, says that he has learnt so much and loving every minute of the play and the experience.
That tournament will be a real test. last time I went to Fiji on holidays the staff from the resort were playing 7s in their break and, the way the played, would have beaten many mainstream 7s sides. The woman played as well and the same goes for them!Sunnybank's men's and women's teams depart for Fiji tomorrow for the invitation Coral Coast 7s.
Will be a tough ask playing only the best Fijian teams in Fijian conditions with the best invited teams from NZ also.
Sunnybank also have Peter Lee and Jordan Tuapou playing for Australia in the same tournament.
.../snip/...Seedings and Pools for the 2013 Heineken Hottest 7s In The World.../snip/...
Happyjack - thanks for this. I watched some of the games via Live Streaming and it was great. Randwick outclassed Sunnybank so may be able to claim bragging rights for Aussie Club sides in 7s, Auckland played like a Super 15 Rep 7s side and were great, Tsunami ( whoever they were) were also very good as were Borneo. It is interesting how various sides are assembled with great players from everywhere. I was surprised that the Aussie Thunderbolts were not more successful.Wrap up from Darwin
Daveta were turned away at customs with visa issues robbing the tournament of a quality team.
Auckland were very big and very fast and saved their best for the reigning champions Borneo in the final.
PNG were not consistent enough to hang with the Cup Pool but their No. 10 was the quickest man in the competition and he provided enough X Factor for them to win the Plate.
Former Australian player Kasey Mitchell steered the No. 10 seed Tsunami team to wins over the Brumbies and Randwick.
Sunnybank were too young and inexperienced with many players on international duty. They lost on the last play to PNG when a more experienced side would have prevailed.
Sunnybank cleaned up the women defeating ACT.
It is very obvious that the quality and quantity of the domestic NZ 7s competitions is creating a bigger pool of quality players who understand 7s than in Australia.
Live streaming from the tournament is outstanding and is something Premier Rugby should look into.
Happyjack - thanks for this. I watched some of the games via Live Streaming and it was great. Randwick outclassed Sunnybank so may be able to claim bragging rights for Aussie Club sides in 7s, Auckland played like a Super 15 Rep 7s side and were great, Tsunami ( whoever they were) were also very good as were Borneo. It is interesting how various sides are assembled with great players from everywhere. I was surprised that the Aussie Thunderbolts were not more successful.
Onto Kiama - wonder who is playing there? Will that be mainly local teams?
I heard 2 of the players from Iconz 7s team have been invited to train with the Australian team. Interesting as the 2 players are from the QLD cup rugby league