HSBC Sevens 2016/17

First topic message reminder :

Men's Dubai leg started today. England managed a clean sweep of pool wins, including a 12-26 victory over New Zealand. Scotland dropped a match to South Africa, and Wales dropped one to Fiji, but both are in the Quarter Finals.

Fiji beat Argentina 22-19 but had to survive two yellow cards along the way.

Short highlights:



Quarter Finals:

Fiji vs France
England vs Scotland
Australia vs Wales
South Africa vs New Zealand

Rugby Fan wrote:It's a mouthwatering Scotland vs England final!

Very tasty. Good luck to both teams, but especially England....

If anyone has a link could they please PM me!

RDW_Scotland wrote:If anyone has a link could they please PM me!

Ditto, please

I have a link!!

Who wants it?

RDW_Scotland wrote:I have a link!!

Who wants it?

You say that to all the girls.

Good lord.

Yep, that's the polite way of putting it.

Bloody hell. Is everybody else knocking off for the end of term, or have we suddenly become very good? Worth pointing out that today Scotland beat three teams who are ranked above them (NZ, USA and England). That's not a fluke, that's outstanding commitment and effort. If that's Robertson's and Wight's swansong, what a way to go - they'll be sorely missed next year.

Well done boys, great couple of days!

Scotland were very tenacious. I think they've looked better in these last two tournaments than they have all season, including their good start.

Final table is

1. South Africa
2. England
3. Fiji
4. NZ
5. USA
6. Australia
7. Scotland
8. Canada
9. Argentina
10. Wales
11. France
12. Kenya
13. Samoa
14. Russia
15. Japan

Japan lose their place on the regular tour.

The Blitzbokke really were a class apart. England were the only team to have South Africa's measure in head-to-heads across the season. However, we slipped up too often to put real pressure on them for the title.

Tom Mitchell is 27, while Dan Bibby is 26, so they could easily be around for a few years. Dan Norton is 29, which is a bit more on the cusp, while James Rodwell is 32, so unlikely to last too much longer. I think he probably wants another shot at a Commonwealth Games. He's the player we'll miss most.

Fiji have lost their way since Ben Ryan stepped down. They can still take opponents apart but had a tendency to switch off. NZ are still recalibrating after their Olympic failure but they'll be disappointed with their season. Opponents don't seem to fear them as much. Australia finished the season with some good young finds while never putting in a strong challenge for the season.

USA are looking back to the form they showed before the Olympics and Canada have been a revelation. With Fiji, Scotland, Wales, England, Canada, Australia, SA and NZ all at the Commonwealth Games, you have 8 of this seasons top 10 teams.