NZ & SA live up to the vegas 7s hyoe, but canda steals day 2 spotlight

Canada will bid to create history against the All Blacks Sevens

On a breathless day's action at the Sam Boyd Stadium, Canada performed heroics to reach only their second-ever Cup semi-final in IRB Sevens rugby, joining defending USA Sevens champions South Africa, New Zealand and Samoa in the final four.

 Sasue

Not hard to call at all - New Zealand was bound to lose and lose they did.  Look - New Zealand loves to be runners-up in games.   They won the world series repeatedly by regularly being runners-up in tournaments.  Last year they won one cup - while each of Fiji and SA won 3.

So far this year the record is SA 2, New Zealand nil.   For the fans sake I hope they manage a win two weeks from now in Wellington - but as Beeno says the wee AB's has very little chance to do that.      

 Sasue

I was needling and you fell for it.   A bit of false info always help. 

Look - I have noticed that there was a change in shall I say psychology and an  improvement in performances of the Blizbokke since the departure of Treu - but there also was some negative tendencies since his appointment by Kenya,

There must have been something inside the camp that was amiss - something which was not public knowledge.   The same players - except for the return of Brown from injury - and the consistency improved.   No Dubai fiasco like last season where they could not get through to the semi-finals.

There is a huge gap between SA and New Zealand on top and the teams like Fiji and England on third and fourth on the log - so strictly speaking the competition for winning the present series is between those two teams - with the most consistent one likely to be the winner. 

I suspect that the Wellington series may be a turnaround and New Zealand winning that one - but it will be a lot of hard work in their case.   The one problem they have - they are slipping a bit in defence,   In six games the Blitzbokke  had only two tries scored against them in Las Vegas - the AB's  had one or more tries scored by opponents in every match they played in.   So defence seems to be a bit of a problem.   Speed also seems to be a bit of a negative in some respects - most NZ players are strong runners rather than speedy ones - so long distance tries are more difficult to achieve.  

Lets wait to see what happens in Wellington in 14 days time.   Go Blitzbokke Go.   

Duplication

 hakwa

Do es it not worry you that in 7 games between the Springbok Sevens and the AB sevens over the past year - the AB sevens did not win a single game.     Are they becoming the bunnies of the Springboks Sevens??????

 Canrugby

There is a separate threat on that performance specifically.   We were all enthralled by it - it was awesome.

 Sasue

The problem is that even if the Fijians win all the other tournaments - they will find it very hard to catch up if either New Zealand or SA are in the semis.   As far as I know there are 5 tournaments left.  They are too far behind to make up the deficit they have at present.

Another one you mentioned is the momentum - it certainly is true.   Inclusive of and  since Las Vegas 2013 the Blitzbokke has beaten New Zealand 7 times in the tournaments played - in other words they won every match played between NZ and SA.

That is not a good sign for NZ iro the coming Wellington tournament - even though SA has a difficult draw this time around.   If they manage to win their pool - they will not have difficulties in the quarterfinals - and will likely run up against Fiji in the semis.   That is going to be problematic for them.  They seem to have more difficulties against Fiji than against New Zealand.

This is not needling - I hope it is a factual situation - at least that is how I see it.        

 Ceradyne

I did not go back to 2012 - and my mention of the games started with Las Vegas 2013.   I was just reflecting something which appeared in the local press and your clarification is appreciated.     

 Sasye

SA is always trying to promote rugby in Africa as a whole and always have a number of mechanisms in place to promote the game.   I suppose the idea was to get a better coach for Kenya as - hence the move insofar as  Treu is concerned. 

Sasue

Seriously now - SA has done more to make Rugby a worldwide sport - especially in South America and Africa than anybody else.   It is for them a mission, since they think rugby participation should be widened.

We have the structures to promote rugby in SA - but provide practical assistance to other countries as well.   There is regular rugby clinics for schools and colleges in Kenya run by SARU - so there is reasonable arguments that True was brought in to help them as well.

The same applies in other parts of Africa as well - so that shows our interest in world rugby against the closed shop approach of New Zealand in particular.