In Australia’s final game in Hong Kong for 2014, Fiji decided that serious competition was boring, and put on a beach rugby style exhibition on free flowing play, delighting the fans. What delighted the fans more was that Australia had no answers, and Fiji ran up a 21-12 score in a fun match to watch.
I’m writing this article in a Stadium being shook to it’s foundations by 40,000 people screaming each and every syllable of that classic Hong Kong 7s hit, ‘Hey, Hey Baby!’.
The Stadium is erupting, and the Party has officially started. The singing is being lead, perhaps unsurprisingly, from the booze fuelled costume party that is the Hong Kong 7s South Stand.
In the rugby, Australia were able to score first in the match, with a beautiful cut out pass putting Afi Pakalani into space on the left wing. Pakalani took it to the line, but couldn’t ground it himself, leaving the honour to team-mate Paul Asquith.
Fiji hit back immediately through Samu Saqiwa, whose try was set by a beautiful run and running offload by Joeli Lutumailagi down the left wing, leaving Australia incapable of chasing down the flying Fijian. In response, Australia began to inject a little more creativity into the way they played, and bought in fully to the entertaining rugby arms race between the two nations – throwing the no look offloads, the long cutouts – but you’d be hard pressed to find a team in world rugby more creative than a Fijian Seven’s team in Hong Kong.
Fiji chipped and chased and goose-stepped their way through an enjoyable 14 minute affair, teaching the Australians what it really means to play what Rugby really is – a game to be played for fun.
In a match like this, I doubt Australia would be too disappointed in losing. After all, Coach O’Connor did get to finish his time at Hong Kong in true Hong Kong style, at the hands of a classic Hong Kong 7s team.
In other news; New Zealand has won the Cup Final 26-7 in the rain in a tense affair, with the two best supported nations progressing to the finals.
That concludes Green and Gold Rugby’s coverage of the Hong Kong 7s. Thanks for tuning in, I really hope you enjoyed my thoughts on the Australian team in the Tournament. See you next time
An Anzac Clash
In Michael O’Connors last ever Hong Kong 7’s in an 8 year career as Head Coach of Australia, you could tell that his players were determined to deliver him the Cup – but a small Pacific Island team dressed in black got in the way. New Zealand were able to sweep aside Australia 19 points to 7 in the Cup Semi-Final, and will move on to play England in the final.
New Zealand proved too good for Australia – Photo Credit: HKRFU / HKSPA
New Zealand started the match with huge aggressive intent – they had won 11/12 matches previously against Australia by starting just so. When Jesse Parahi caught the opening kick-off he was immediately swamped by a sea of darkness, and the ruck formed was quickly overcome. New Zealand has excelled all Tournament at punishing teams that make mistakes with fast and efficient counter-attacking rugby, and so counter-attack they did – the pill was swung wide right, and if not for some clutch defence in forcing a forward pass New Zealand would surely have scored out wide.
Australia clearly understood the risks posed by New Zealand’s counter-attack, and worked hard all match to keep possession for as long as possible. Australia enjoyed a mountain of possession through the game, completing 56 passes to New Zealand’s 19. However, try as they might Australia struggled to convert this possession in to points. Australia made 5 errors in the course of the match, and when combined with the loss of 4 turnovers New Zealand was let off the hook defensively more than any champion team should ever be allowed.
Greg Jeloudev attempts to run around the defence to no avail – Photo Credit: HKRFU / HKSPA
Austalia had methodically worked their way into New Zealand’s half with a combination of hard running and penalties 2 minutes in to the match. Australia managed to exploit the Kiwi defensive alignment by attacking right, and created a sizeable overlap on the left touchline. When Australia tried to get the ball out, New Zealand clamped down on Australia hard. The final pass was shut down by quick thinking defence, and NZ Captain DJ Forbes pilfered the next ruck. When Forbes emerged from the ruck, a charging Tim Mikkelson was available to be passed to, and with clinical execution a 85 metre try was scored right through the guts of Hong Kong Stadium and the Australian team within.
The Australian side really started attacking off the next kick off, with Greg Jeloudev and Alex Gibbon both recording big runs through the New Zealand line. But, this time it was Tim Mikkelson’s turn at playing Richie, and with a quick pilfer and pass New Zealand pivot Gillies Kaka was racing off for his first try of the match under the posts. Kaka was unable to convert his try, but the game was quickly escaping from the shell shocked Australians at 12-0 after just 3 minutes.
Though still in a state of shock, the gutsy Aussie 7s team were determined to make something happen. Cam Clark went on a big run in the dying minutes of the first half, crossing in to New Zealand territory for the second time of the match. Australia were starting to pick up momentum as they moved closer and closer to the New Zealand try line, but just like that the Darkness were able to force another Aussie turnover in the ruck. With the penalty won, New Zealand kicked for the line with seconds remaining in the half. Defensive pressure from the Australians forced a knock on as the sirens blared, but Referee Rasta Rasivhenge elected to pack the scrum, and give Australia a chance to score before oranges. Australia’s attack looked the most fluid of the game at this stage, and it took a professional foul from Gillies Kaka to slow Australian momentum. Kaka reached out and batted down an Australia pass with his palms facing down, and was yellow carded for his decision. With a man in the chilly bin, the Kiwi’s desperately needed to find a way to end the half before Australia could find an avenue to exploit their superior numbers. Again, New Zealand were able to force a penalty from the ruck – this time to end the tumultuous half.
Australia worked hard to overcome their Trans-Tasman Rivals – Photo Credit: HKRFU / HKSPA
At half time, New Zealand had only had seconds of possession, but were clinical and effective in converting the possession into points. Australia’s discipline issues were being ruthlessly punished by the Kiwi’s, but they were only 12 points down, and not out of the game yet.
Australia started the second period strongly by winning a penalty from the kick off. A Con Foley run took them into New Zealands 22, but Australia knocked on in the ruck under strong pressure from New Zealand. With Alex Gibbon injured in the play, impact substitute Afa Pakalani was injected in to the game to immediate effect. A big Con Foley hit jarred the ball loose from New Zealand’s George Tilsley, requiring a formation Australian scrum. Even though New Zealand still were down a man, their defence was proving too tough for the Aussie’s to crack from close range, and the space out wide was almost closed quickly by the speed and athleticism of the defending side. Australia earn another penalty 5 out, and spread the ball quickly through the hands to the right, where big Afa Pakalani was able to finally bust through the New Zealand defensive line. Cam Clark nailed the conversion, and the scores rested at 12-7 with 3:19 to go.
Superstar Jesse Parahi was able to nail DJ Forbes in to touch upon his catching of the kick off, granting Australia an attacking 30 metre line out, while Gillies Kaka was brought back on the field, restoring NZ to full strength. The line-out overthrown, and Con Foley came close to recovering the ball cleanly, but just couldn’t hold on with a wide open goal line in front of him.
With New Zealand’s possession and numbers restored, the team reverted back to their untouchable form, and ground Australia out of the game through incredible offloading and even better support player. New Zealand were able to score a 40+ metre that surely was offloaded through every set of hands that finished in the swan dive of Gillies Kaka, bringing the score to an insurmountable 19-7 with a minute to play
Gibbon before injury – Photo Credit: Kwow Ching Him
With 20 seconds to go, Australia earned a penalty for New Zealand’s deliberate slowing of their ball. Australia tried hard to finsh strong, finding holes in centre field and getting over the advantage line consistently, but the hands of DJ Forbes soon intercepted a loose offload, and the ball was punted in to touch.
The weary Australians and their coach exited the pitch to the sounds of a 40,000 strong chorus of Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline, in a fitting end to Michael O’Connors 8 year affair with the Greatest 7s Tournament in the World.
Sweet Caroline – the good times never felt so good
Australia now turn to Fiji for the third place play off at 8:25 pm AEST. The match will not be a dead rubber, as the winner of the match secures 17 points on the IRB circuit that count towards the remaining two rounds. Meanwhile, the finals of the Shield, Bowl, and Plate competitions will be played out.
Green and Gold Rugby will provide a write up of the third/fourth play-off, and will try to keep you informed of the remaining results through the night.
In the aftermath of New Zealand’s strong victory against Wales in the other Cup Quarter Final, Australia knew that a victory against Canada would mean a Semi-Final match up against one of the World’s most dangerous 7’s Rugby teams, but they still went after Canada with pride, showing enough grit to grind out a win.
Aggression – Photo Credit: HKRFU / HKSPA
In a dark stadium that had threatened rain all day, Canada came at Australia hard in the first minute, committing numbers to the very first breakdown and smashing aside all resistance. A turnover from the ruck left the Australians scratching their heads as Canada raced away on the right wing for the first try of the match.
While Canada missed the conversion from wide out, Australia was rethinking their strategy at the breakdown. While previous matches had seen Australia midfielders turn balls back inside to weaken the opposition defence, Australia elected to spin the ball wide each phase, playing coast to coast rugby with very few frills. Whilst not the most dangerous strategy, it was effective in getting the Australians over the advantage line if not threatening the Canadian tryline.
The Canadians defended the momentum the Australians were building effectively, not missing any tackles and allowing very few offloads. When Canada did have possession, they threatened Australia wide as soon as possible, attempting to create overlaps through simple speed of passing. If not for some clutch last ditch tackling from Con Foley on the right wing, Canada would very well have gone the distance 2 or 3 times and put Australia out of the game.
Defense is becoming an Aussie 7s trademark – Photo Credit: HKRFU / HKSPA
With both teams defending their hearts out, this low scoring arm wrestle continued for the majority of the half, with neither team asserting any form of dominance on the game. Canada looked slightly on top, however, as dangerous attacking on the wings threatened to strike every time the ball went wide.
The second half saw the scoring accelerate from both teams, as Jesse Parahi started to incorporate his trademark spinning, fending, and offloading runs in the mid-field. Australia were able to equalise and convert a minute in to the second half, as the shifting from sideline to sideline forced a defensive alignment error from Canada, allowing Cameron Clark to put away Alex Gibbon on the left hand side for Australia’s first points of the Quarter Final.
In return, Canada once again began committing numbers to the ruck, and kicking from hand to pin the Australians in their half. The interchange of Peter Schuster paid dividends immediately as Australia started to look more dangerous out wide. Greg Jeloudev got through lots of work in the game, making 6 or 7 good quality runs.
Determination – Photo Credit: HKRFU / HKSPA
Canada resorted to downright trickery to score tries, as a quick line out caught Australia napping, and Ciaran Hearn scored courtesy of a 2 man overlap on the left wing. Hearn brought the ball back between the posts to make the conversion easy for compatriot Philip Mack, and Canada were in the lead 12-7 with 35 seconds to go.
With the game hanging in the balance, Cameron Clark took off down the left hand wing, put in to space by a great pass from Afa Pakalani, stepping the first defender, before drawing and passing to his inside to SuperSub Paul Asquith! With the Canadians folding up, hands on heads, Asquith dived between the posts to the delight of the crowd. With the kick a technicality, Cameron Clark earned his side another 2 points to win the game for Australia.
Australia’s thoughts now move to the Cup Semi-Final against New Zealand at 6:14 AEST for the next big battle between the two ANZAC Nations.
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Nic is a freelance journalist who first tried his hand writing for Green & Gold Rugby as a schoolboy. Five years on, Nic is our resident expert on Brisbane’s local rugby scene not named RugbyReg.
In April 2018 Nic releases his first book, the official biography of Waisale Serevi entitled 'Waisale Serevi: The King of Sevens'.
