HSBC Sevens 2017/18

Dubai up first.

Womens Series kicked off yesterday, while the Mens starts today.

England Women had a tough day, losing to Australia and Russia. They have a quarterfinal against Australia now, which will be a hard match to win.

England & Scotland Men are in a pool together with Spain & France. Wales have Australia, Fiji and Russia.

https://www.worldrugby.org/sevens-series

England Women and Wales Men both lost to Australia.

USA Women beat New Zealand in the quarter final which is a real turn-up.

NZ beat USA in the pool yesterday by 45-14 but lost by 14-12 today. USA scored right at the end, and kicked the conversion to win. That's only the third time NZ Women haven't made the semi-finals.

In the mens. Argentina beat NZ and Samoa beat USA in pool action. Scotland had a good win over France.

Predictable quarter finalists for Dubai this year. Notable weaknesses still showing in the NZ team. The Australians seem to be the big improvers. Boks look efficient but not unbeatable and Fiji looking like favourites once again based on tournament form. Not sure about John Stewart, would not make my starting seven in fact shouldn't even be in the squad!

Last year's champions South Africa beat New Zealand in the final to take the first round.

England beat Fiji to finish third. They will be disapppointed at losing in the semi-final to New Zealand but they also had good wins in Dubai over Scotland and Australia, so it wasn't a bad weekend.

Difficult to draw too many conclusions from one round but Samoa look a bit better than last season, managing a fifth place.

England squad confirmed for Cape Town. Dan Bibby still out but captain Tom Mitchell recovered from his knock, and Charlie Hayter is back.

Tom Bowen, Phil Burgess, Richard de Carpentier, Will Edwards, Harry Glover, Charlie Hayter, Ollie Lindsay-Hague, Ruaridh McConnochie, Tom Mitchell (c), Dan Norton, James Rodwell, Ethan Waddleton

Our pool contains Uganda, Argentina and Scotland (again). Wales have Fiji, Samoa and Canada.

Rugby Fan wrote:England squad confirmed for Cape Town. Dan Bibby still out but captain Tom Mitchell recovered from his knock, and Charlie Hayter is back.

Tom Bowen, Phil Burgess, Richard de Carpentier, Will Edwards, Harry Glover, Charlie Hayter, Ollie Lindsay-Hague, Ruaridh McConnochie, Tom Mitchell (c), Dan Norton, James Rodwell, Ethan Waddleton

Our pool contains Uganda, Argentina and Scotland (again). Wales have Fiji, Samoa and Canada.

Hmm Scotland. I wonder if they have a spy in our ranks..

Scotland let Argentina get away to a quick start and couldn't quite get back, losing 14-19.

Best result so far is the USA 22-0 victory over New Zealand. Not the first time they have beaten the All Blacks but USA didn't win a single game in Dubai, and Perry Baker is out injured.

Anyone know where I can find the head-to-heads between the various countries in 7s? Haven't had much joy googling it.

Galted wrote:Anyone know where I can find the head-to-heads between the various countries in 7s?  Haven't had much joy googling it.

Sorry, I don't

Scotland lost a tight match to England, who went through the pool stage unbeaten but haven't looked slick. USA defeated Australia, so the NZ vs Aus match will decide who goes through in second place,

I'm sure that NZ have never failed to make the knockouts, I'm also sure the Aussies wouldn't mind helping them break that run.

England went out at the quarter final stage, losing to New Zealand 12-17. We never really fired on all cylinders. Fireworks in the South Africa vs Fiji quarter final, with the host making a comeback to win.

Meanwhile, Canada have looked quite useful, which might put them on course for a semi-final against the USA.

USA went gangbusters yesterday but Argentina turned over in the quarter final. USA were 21-0 down before they woke up. Too late to get back, and the scoreline of 12-28 was a fair reflection.

I thought Samoa looked better last week but they've had a bad tournament in Cape Town. Spain have just beaten them 24-0

And so much for NZ failing to make the knockouts, they're through to the final.

New Zealand got the win and currentky lead the series. Second year on the trot that South Africa haven't managed to win the Cape Town round, which will annoy them (it's really only NZ and South Africa with decent records in their home competitions).

Current Standings:

NZ
South Africa
Fiji
England
Argentina
Australia
Canada
France
Samoa

Argentina have posed problems for most teams they've faced. They look back to the kind of form they showed at the Olympics. Still, it's a bit early to call too many trends, though, as a lot of teams have been inconsistent over the first two rounds.

Sydney this weekend. The pools are:

New Zealand
Fiji
Samoa
Russia

Argentina
France
Wales
Kenya

South Africa
England
Spain
Papua New Guinea

Canada
USA
Australia
Scotland

England will have high hopes of going through to the quarter finals. Wales could get the better of everyone in their pool but will have to play better than they have to date. Argentina will be favourites, with France likely to come second. Scotland are in a pig of group. Canada & USA both improved greatly in the last round, and Australia are hosts.

Australian fans like the look of Maurice Longbottom:

England beat Spain 22-10. Not overwhelming, but a safe win.

Wales lost 31-12 to France.

Scotland spanked, really SPANKED, Canada 52-5

Max McFarland got a hat-trick. Canada thoroughly demolished.

In Fiji's game against Samoa, there was a no-look chip

https://twitter.com/WorldRugby7s/status/956819594479464448

Bad news in the Womens 7s for England. We finished behind NZ and USA in our pool, so miss out on the main Cup competition. While we beat USA, we lost to Japan (the second time that's happened in 7s).

Not much joy for Wales today.

Engalnd are through to the Cup, after fimishing second in their group. They were comprehensively outplayed by South Africa in their head-to-head, however. Big improvement needed, or a lot of luck, to overcome the form teams in Sydney.

Scotland couldn't follow-up their big win over Canada. They lost 26-12 to USA, and then faced hosts Australia in the penultimate match on Saturday. Australia went out to a fast start but Scotland fought back to lead with two minutes to go. A try made it 24-21 to Australia as full time came round, then Scotland won a penalty, with an Australian in the sin bin. Sadly, nothing came of it.

Fiji scored a last-second winner over New Zealand in their pool match. New Zealand still looking a useful outfit. Those two sides, along with Australia and South Africa, are the teams to beat on the strength of the first two days. Then again, Perry Baker was on fire for USA too, so their quarter final against Fiji promises fireworks.

Australia now have to play New Zealand in the quarter final tomorrow, which will be another big match. New Zealand might have a couple of injuries, which could hamper their progress.

England play Argentina, and, if they win, will face the winner of that Australia vs NZ match.

Here's the last play of the Fiji vs NZ pool match

Oops, that's another tournament where England haven't looked great but I've dared to hope. Instead, we went down 10-0 to Argentina.

Meanwhile, USA did burst into life against Fiji, managing a 24-7 win. They will now face South Africa, who dispatched Kenya 17-0. Argentian will play Australia, who beat New Zealand 24-12. That's keeping the home crowd happy, along with the performance of the women's side, who take on New Zealand in the final.

Australia took the mens and womens titles in Sydney, which is a great result for them. South Africa lost 29-0 in the men's final, which is a remarkable result.

England have dropped to sixth place, are finishing with the same points as Dubai. So far, only South africa have managed a top 3 finish in the first three rounds, Argentina have managed two, and have moved up to fourth.

1. South Africa
2. New Zealand
3. Australia
4. Argentina
5. Fiji
6. England
7. USA
8. France
9. Kenya
10. Canada
11. Samoa
12. Wales
13. Spain
14. Scotland
15. Russia
16. Uganda (2 rounds)
17. Papua New Guinea (1 round)

England have drawn South Africa, Russia, and Papua New Guinea for next weekend in Hamilton. We should make the quarter finals with that draw. We've been lucky to get PNG two weeks running.

Wales are drawn with Australia, Fiji and Spain. Meanwhile Scotland have Argentina, New Zealand and France. Seemed like there were quite a few injuries in Sydney, so we'll see what the squads look like later.

I watched a few of the first day's games. Scotland were giving Argentina a run for their money, which is quite a good feat, given the Pumas are showing up well this season. Scotland were leading, and came agonisingly close to scoring but got held up and turned over. An Argentinian player then ran back the length of the field for the winning try.

England managed two good wins over minnows but looked outclassed again against South Africa. We face host country New Zealand in the quarter finals now.

Things haven't clicked so far for England, and there are only to months to go before the Commonwealth games. On this form, we won't win a medal.

We are in Las Vegas. Wales and England are in the same pool with South Africa and Canada.

Wales gave the Blitzbokke a real fright, going out to a 14-0 lead. They then went down to 6 men after a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on and shipped two tries. Wales gave up the lead to a third but got one back to tie it up. South Africa had a yellow for obstructing play at a penalty but Wales couldn't score and gave away a try when the teams were back at full strength. There was still one play left for Wales to make a comeback, but they let the kick-off go into touch, and time was up.

England had a good second half against Canada to put them away. Probably as good as we've looked all series but we'll know if that's a genuine turn around in form after facimg Wales and South Africa.

Scotland narrowly lost to Argentina in their opener, which looked even better after Argentina went on to beat New Zealand. Scotland ran up a good score against Uruguay but will need to pull out something special against New Zealand to make the quarter finals.

Enjoyed the Vegas 7’s so far.
USA were excellent against Australia.
Some good tries scored.
Perry Baker was really up for it.


Always hope Kenya and Canada do well.
Good to see Collins Injera for Kenya, big fan of Justin Douglas for Canada.

Unlucky tournament for Scotland, who showed up well but just lost to Argentina and New Zealand, who are both in good form this season.

England put in a better performance against South Africa but still lost. Their reward is a quarter final against the hosts, USA.

Wales were just beaten by Canada, so they have also been unlucky with results, while showing up better on the field than before.

England lost in the quarters 19-12 to the hosts. Not a walkover but we are still losing to in-form teams. Still, if we can beat New Zealand tomorrow get a shot at the 5th place play-off, then that'll be a better result than recent rounds.

The semi finals tomorrow are

Fiji vs USA
Argentina vs South Africa

Says a lot for sevens that the four semi-finalists are from 4 different continents with none of them being much of a shock.

Rugby Fan wrote:...Still, if we can beat New Zealand tomorrow get a shot at the 5th place play-off...

That didn't happen. Only a score separated us from South Africa, USA & NZ in Vegas, but we lost all three.

Big news is that Argentina beat South Africa in the semi-final. USA beating Fiji is not such a surprise but still a turn-up. Final still to come.

Fiji beat South Africa in the bronze medal match. Very good game, which ended with South Africa winning a scrum against the head but then losing the ball at the resulting ruck.

Good final, where USA were unstoppable against Argentina. That the first cup win for USA since London in 2015.

A lot of teams appear to have stepped up a gear this year. Argentina were blown away in the final but they are regularly causing problems. USA have delivered on home turf while Kenya have looked back to the form which saw them in the top tier a few years ago.

Australia have also started well this season, so with Fiji, NZ and South Africa consistent as ever, England, Scotland and Wales look like mid-table fodder at the moment.

Really got into 7’s last couple of years
Great tournaments, exciting rugby.


Be good for the 15’s game if some of these teams, (USA Canada Kenya) etc were more competitive.

Feel sorry for Scotland. They put in another good performance against New Zealand in Vancouver but lost 31-26. Not many sides have been scoring 26 points against the All Black sevens this season.

England beat Wales easily enough but then stepped on a rake and lost 5-21 to Samoa. We need to beat Argentina to have a chance of qualifying for the Cup competition now, and they are in better form than us right now.

Scotland went down 21-0 to South Africa,and then lost to Russia, so it's been a tournament of diminishing returns for them. In their pool match-up South Africa lost to New Zealand, which hasn't happened a lot of late.

Elsewhere, results have mostly gone with the form book, Canada drew with Australia, though, and Spain nearly beat France but they escaped with a draw too.

Still the last few pool matches to go on day one.

England managed a good win over Argentina in the end. Although three Samoa, Argentina and England all ended with seven points, Engladn topped the pool with Argentina in second. Unlucky for Samoa.

England get to play Kenya in the quarters, which is probably the best opponent we could have hoped for. They are no mugs but the alternative from or pool was Fiji.

Good win for Canada against France.
Good win for Kenya to.

Looking forward to Kenya vs USA. Should be a good game.

Rugby Fan wrote:England get to play Kenya in the quarters, which is probably the best opponent we could have hoped for. They are no mugs but the alternative from or pool was Fiji.

Well, Fiji vs Kenya is the line up for the final, so Vancouver is yet another tournament where England have failed to progress beyong the quarter final round.

The good news is we did beat New Zealand in a play-off match, so we'll get a few more points, and a chance to face Australia for 5th place. New Zealand lost to USA in their quarter final, so it's been a step down for them this weekend.

Disappointing for Canada vs Samoa.
Was hoping they could get the win.

Delighted Kenya beat USA, hopefully they can beat Fiji.

England beat Australia 14-31 to get 5th place. That's a good result, because Australia have been in good form this season. England's best finish since our bronze medal in the first round

Hong Kong this weekend.

England and Scotland are in the same pool, probably fighting it out to see who can come second to South Africa. Korea are the other side, and shouldn't present too hard a challenge.

Wales have got USA, Argentina and France. They could win all three or lose all three but probably would be happy if they could make it into the Cup competition.

Scotland beat England 19-22 in the opening match. Unless Scotland falls to Korea, then England will probably have to beat South Africa to have any hope of qualifying for the Cup. That's a tall order.

Wales went down 31-10 to Argentina in their opening match.

Here's the try which won it for Scotland. Pretty good, I'd say.

https://twitter.com/WorldRugby7s/status/982221025516535808

Spain just beat Australia 17-12

There'll be some sympathy for Australia, who lost captain James Stannard in horrible circumstances, but Hong Kong loves an underdog, so that went down a storm.

Here is their winning score:

https://twitter.com/WorldRugby7s/status/982234068677873664

England needed to beat South Africa by seven points but went down 33-15. The opening loss to Scotland proved costly, and the Scots advance ahead.

Australia finished bottom of their pool, which you'd normally enjoy if their captain hadn't been assaulted and forced to miss the tournament.

Spain made the Cup quarter finals, which is a small bit of good news for the country, given their World Cup qualification woes.

Not many other surprises but Fiji spanked New Zealand 50-7 in the final pool match.

England will face Australia in the first match of the attempt to finish top of the second half of the competition.

Fiji took the title for the 4th time in a row, beating Kenya in the final.

The only other team to win 4 consecutive Hong Kong titles is England but we had a horror show this weekend. After failing to make the Cup, we lost to Australia and then Samoa. We ended up joint last with Korea. That's our worst result this season, and probably worst ever in Hong Kong.

England are 8th overall, which isn't a great place ahead of the Commonwealth Games. Scotland are 9th, and Wales around 14th. It only takes a couple of good games to get a head of steam up but none of the Home Nations sides are going to be favourites to get a medal.

I would've thought the world series would be far more important than the commonwealth games especially for SA and NZ, who really needed the points? Anyway always happy to see Fiji win, hopefully they can push on and win the series now.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:I would've thought the world series would be far more important than the commonwealth games especially for SA and NZ, who really needed the points? Anyway always happy to see Fiji win, hopefully they can push on and win the series now.

The Commonwealth Games is not as big as the Olympics but it has the same kind of attraction for sevens players. It's an experience to hang out with elite athletes from other sports, and the chance only comes around once every four years. Unlike the Olympics, English, Scots and Welsh compete separately, so that's another draw for those players. Also, most of the top sevens teams are in the games: the main absentees are USA, Argentina and France.

It was a hard call this year for teams, because Hong Kong is such an established sevens date. However, many did the same as England, and elected to send the main squad to Australia for preparation, while entering a second string team in Hong Kong.

Double Post

Good effort from Ireland at the London 7’s
Jordan Conroy has some serious pace.

I missed all live coverage of the last two rounds, and never find the highlights too helpful in giving a good picture of what went on.

Certainly sounds like a good Irish show at Twickenham. They wiped the floor with USA, which was quite a turn-up, and then went one better beating England on home ground.

The Fijians have been excellent for the last few rounds but a lot of commentators suggesting they are leagues ahead of everyone else seem to have missed the fact that South Africa were the form team in the early part of the season. While it is now Fiji's title to lose, that was by no means a certainty after the first few rounds.

England claimed fourth at Twickenham, which is better than most of our season, when we missed out the semi-finals for six straight rounds. We could yet finish the table in fifth place, while a poor final round would just as easily drop us to eighth.

Ben Ryan's new book has prompted a lot of discussion about this England side, as Ryan has pointed out in interviews that the talent pipeline has been disrupted.

We have some world class players in the likes of Rodwell, Norton, Burgess, Bibby and Mitchell. However, the youngest is Bibby at 27, while Rodwell is 33. The squad isn't over-the-hill but it is ageing. A quick look at other top teams shows they have experienced stars in their mid-20s, a few tyros just out of school. and a couple of more seasoned campaigners.

As an illustration, one of our flair players is Ollie Lindsay Hague. He'll be 28 in October and, although he played at the HK sevens as a teenager, he only rejoined the sevens programme in 2016. We missed his tyro years, and he's only just begun to get decent experience in the short code at a relatively late stage. Meanwhile, Luke Treharne and Luke Morgan - two handy Welsh players - are 25 and 26 with a lot of tournaments under their belts.

England has the talent to beat most teams - even Fiji - in a one-off. We don't have the ability to do it consistently, though. It's possible we will put in a decent showing at next month's World Cup. After all, our bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games was better than our HSBC sevens results had indicated. If we do, it shouldn't conceal the fact that our sevens programme is running on empty right now.

Incidentally, on the matter of the World Cup, Ben Ryan thinks the sudden death format is a good idea. he argues that a normal sevens tournament just goes on too long to capture and/or retain the interest of casual fans. A shorter programme, where every match is a do-or-die is, he believes, a more commercial proposition.

If Fiji don't win the title today, then England will have played a part. We just beat Fiji in the quarter final, with a last-play score. That means Fiji can finish no better than 5th (13pts), and could finish 7th or 8th (10pts). Their final series total will be 177-180pts.

South Africa are currently on 160 pts, so a win in Paris (worth 22pts) will claim the overall title, no matter what Fiji do. A second place gets only 19 points, so Fiji will be trying hard to get 5th spot. If South Africa get to the final, they will know whether a win is necessary. Fiji have won more rounds this season, which I think is the deciding factor in the event of a tie. For that reason, I don't think 3rd place will be good enough for South Africa in any circumstances.