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Sevens Lead In and Olympics 2024

Steve_Grey

Darby Loudon (17)
I didn't think about it at the time, but you're right. If they went for the sticks there wouldn't have been the turnover and then the length of the field try. Small margins in these tournaments.

Can't shake the feeling we choked though.
Agreed - easy with 20/20 hindsight; take the points, take the points, take the points.
 

Dismal Pillock

Michael Lynagh (62)
The ref didn't cost us the game but he was very inconsistent.

Canada had the ball at one ruck but he penalised them. Then he penalised them for being offside immediately after when there were no offside lines. THEN he gave them a penalty for us holding on despite the Canadian player being face down in the turf and not supporting their weight.

Same guy who played evensies with our pool game against Ireland
ancient-aliens.jpg
 

Brumby Runner

Jason Little (69)
I think there are a lot of people in the media who obviously don't understand how volatile 7s is when it comes to scores.

Caslick summed it up in her post-match presser that 'its the way 7s goes'.

Aussie's are a good team and the good teams will nearly always pump the shit ones during the pool stages. It's pretty much a different game once you hit the knockouts and small mistakes will cost the game.

For casual viewers (and there are obviously a lot of them for this tournament) they would see the huge scorelines in the pool stages and wonder what happened.
So, what exactly happened PC? To my eyes, it looked like the Aussie women thought they were home and hosed after moving to a 12 - 0 lead. Too many players then wanting to make the miracle big plays by themselves rather than looking for team mates in better position.
 

PhilClinton

Mark Loane (55)
So, what exactly happened PC? To my eyes, it looked like the Aussie women thought they were home and hosed after moving to a 12 - 0 lead. Too many players then wanting to make the miracle big plays by themselves rather than looking for team mates in better position.

Nah - watch the games again, there was a lack of basic skill execution at key times. I think we put the girls on a pedestal due to them being world beaters (in a literal sense winning the first ever 7s gold medal years ago). But a number of the younger ones in particular still lack execution against the tougher teams.

Some key moments of the game weren't players looking to be heroes, but rather just being outplayed. Perfect example is Teagan Levi missing a textbook tackle just off the USA try line which leads to them scoring.
 

Derpus

Nathan Sharpe (72)
Nah - watch the games again, there was a lack of basic skill execution at key times. I think we put the girls on a pedestal due to them being world beaters (in a literal sense winning the first ever 7s gold medal years ago). But a number of the younger ones in particular still lack execution against the tougher teams.

Some key moments of the game weren't players looking to be heroes, but rather just being outplayed. Perfect example is Teagan Levi missing a textbook tackle just off the USA try line which leads to them scoring.
Sounds like the men.
 

PhilClinton

Mark Loane (55)
The media having another swipe at the 7s girls, more specifically Caslick whos out enjoying her mad monday.

Someone has obviously told her to take it down though.

It is funny reading some of the comments 'surrounded by a group of men in a night club'. Shows how little these journalists actually know about the players - the bloke standing next to her is her fiancée who is a former 7s captain and Super Rugby player (admittedly I don't know why he's throwing up a gang sign though...)
 

Jimmy_Crouch

Peter Johnson (47)
The media having another swipe at the 7s girls, more specifically Caslick whos out enjoying her mad monday.

Someone has obviously told her to take it down though.

It is funny reading some of the comments 'surrounded by a group of men in a night club'. Shows how little these journalists actually know about the players - the bloke standing next to her is her fiancée who is a former 7s captain and Super Rugby player (admittedly I don't know why he's throwing up a gang sign though...)
Matty Gonzalez is also in the picture.
 

PhilClinton

Mark Loane (55)
Out of the two 7s coaches I think Manenti is the better coach by a significant margin. The fact the two have swapped jobs made it quite easy to compare and I feel like Manenti has done more with a less skilled squad and also had runs on the board with some decent womens performances.

Probably fair to say the mens comp also has more depth overall. The womens weakness has always been against a particular 2-3 teams and all of them play us much more physically. Whilst the coach isn't fully to blame in any situation, I think most 7s watchers can see the deficiencies in the womens team when we play those sides and there doesn't seem to be much coaching adjustment from Walsh.
 

Shuteshieldfan

Frank Nicholson (4)
Agree with above.

My take is the Gold in 2016 was an amazing effort and great for the sport.
Rugby Australia was smart and ahead of the game (2013 ish) in recruiting the best athletes and touch players to the sport (Green, Caslick, Pelite, Quirk ect) and training them up in prep for Rio.

Rio was always going to be a two-horse race, between Aus and NZ, daylight was 3rd such was the discrepancy between the top two and middle.

The gap has closed a lot since then but on most days, it is still a two-horse race.

2016 was amazing but since then Walsh's results in Major Events are very mixed.

2018 Men's World Cup = 10th
Failed to automatically qualify for the Olympics in 19/20.
2021 Men's Olympics = 7th
2022 Womans Comm Games = 1st
2024 Womans Olympics = 4th
 
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barbarian

Phil Kearns (64)
Staff member
I think both coaches did a good job. Ultimately as a coach your job is to put your players in a position to succeed, and I think both teams were in that position in Paris.

Sevens is so brutal and the margins are so fine that it's hard to sheet missing the podium back to the coaching. Sometimes you just drop a pass or miss a tackle. That happens.

When looking at a larger sample size, both programs have delivered great results over the past 18-24 months and both Manenti and Walsh can take credit for that.
 
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