Rugby Sevens

[hobbes]

"The balance of power in 7s has shifted somewhat and Fiji are no longer the king of the pile (the final was against Argentina!!) – this shift I think due to the fact that there is a professional sevens circuit now and many countries are a lot more serious about it than they used to be when Hong Kong was the only decent 7s tournament each year.

Fiji especially seem to me to be a lot weaker than they used to be – England deserved their win and now have three in a row in HK and World Cup champs – perish the thought but they seem to be on top of the rugby world at the moment – although they lost the 6 Nations overnight to France – missing their retired World Cup winning captain and Wilkinson.

Not sure why everyone at the stadium hates France – “Stand up if you hate the French!” - very popular! Scotland obliged by beating them. Second on the most hated list seemed to be Australia.

Jessica has become a rugby addict and fervent England supporter after watching a lot of the RWC. She was shouting a lot louder than Dom was for England!"

CB

[hobbes]

"To be fair, Argentina actually played the best 7's of anybody. Their defence was superb and they turned over the opposition (including England) on numerous occasions. Also take into consideration that they are all part time players, they are doctors, lawyers etc and not full time players like the English, Kiwis etc and it is even more remarkable.

England got to the final (via Fiji and SA) and won the final solely due to Haughton's speed, he basically scored the tries at key moments in all these games by simply going "round the outside". He was by far and away the quickest player at the tournament.

We also shouldn't forget that England have some of their top club and international players there whereas the southern hemisphere sides did not have one current super 12 player there.

WTF -- they shouldn't be allowed to call themselves Australia or NZ -- maybe neanderthals and neolithics.

The IRB world cup sevens will be a different story next year when the world cup status takes prcedence over domestic comps.

Anyway, still happy with the three in a row!!"

CB the first time i have seen an analysis more thorough and informative than yours --- i think he has registered on this BB but either never posted, or only in the secret forums.

[hobbes]

big congrats to dom, paul, tom, chris.

i did not even think england could play 7's let alone win it 3 times in a row. not broadcast here but i was working anyway.

luckily i was not even in HK for the first win.

[cheesebeast]

Yes Tom is right that english winger in the headgear was awesome, he seemed to spend 80% of the game loafing but when he got the ball and 5 yards of space on the outside he was unstoppable, scored some great tries.