2014-2015 World Rugby (HSBC) Dubai Leg

[Shaggy]

Hi ... Quite surprised there isn't a thread already, as we are almost at the business end of the tournament already.

At the time of posting New Zealand had just defeated an injury plagued England in the last Quarter Final, so Australia play Fiji in one Semi Final, and New Zealand play South Africa in the other one. All of these teams look to be in pretty good form, so it's pretty hard to pick which ones will contest the final, let alone, who will win.

One of the teams that hasn't made it through the quarters, but has impressed, is Scotland - their match up against Wales should be a great game.

Canada and Kenya are probably the two biggest disappointments in this tournament for me, and Samoa have probably also under achieved after their effort at the Gold Coast.

Also, on a side note, it's great to see the Women's tournament run at the same time and venue, as the Men's ... it was quite good to see the Russians run England and New Zealand close

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

That was a pretty good tournament for SA. Kwagga Smith has been good in the XV man game at flank in the Currie Cup but it just seems 7's rugby should become a focus for him. Good to see the guys exploit their pace by putting it in behind to chase sucessfully on a number of occasions and to keep the opposition defenses honest; if you're flat and tight we put in in behind if you have a sweeper behind we take it wide- get you both coming and going type of thing. I've always wondered why we havn't done this more; as we have the pace but havn't always exploited it as well while we've struggled against physically robust teams like England in particular- I can recall any number of occasions we've just been bullied at the breakdown by England and NZ yet hadn't taken advatage of our speed advantage in those games. Hope they keep it up!

 

[Shaggy]

That was a pretty good tournament for SA. Kwagga Smith has been good in the XV man game at flank in the Currie Cup but it just seems 7's rugby should become a focus for him. Good to see the guys exploit their pace by putting it in behind to chase sucessfully on a number of occasions and to keep the opposition defenses honest; if you're flat and tight we put in in behind if you have a sweeper behind we take it wide- get you both coming and going type of thing. I've always wondered why we havn't done this more; as we have the pace but havn't always exploited it as well while we've struggled against physically robust teams like England in particular- I can recall any number of occasions we've just been bullied at the breakdown by England and NZ yet hadn't taken advatage of our speed advantage in those games. Hope they keep it up!

Yes, South Africa played smart rugby, and they have a great mix of players in their current squad. Their forwards are big and play a physical game, the have pacy backs out wide, and they have accurate field position kickers, so if you move up to shut down the speedsters' space, you're exposed to the kick in behind.

New Zealand just looked rattled against both Fiji and South Africa, once they got behind. They just seemed to get beaten up at the breakdown, which is worrying, as I think we have our best forwards playing

 

[Mikel92]

Well done South Africa, haven't yet watched the game. Only match I was able to see was the NZ/Samoa one .. a no contest there really. Bit disappointing for us tbh. I don't think we've been that strong in the sevens for a couple of years now (well, seems that way). But I have no doubt other teams have simply become even better too!

At least the Womens team came through and beat Australia in a thrilling final. Well done girls, pretty much a role reversal from last year against the Aussies.

 

[Southern Stag]

New Zealand finished 4th, can't win all the time i guess.
We dominated all 3 games on the first day, but seemed to lose our way on day two..