Menu
Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
Latest activity
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles and first posts only
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Help Support The Rugby Forum :
Forums
Rugby Union
IRB Sevens, World Cup & Premiership 7s
2014 Commonwealth Games 7's (26&27/07/14)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Darwin" data-source="post: 660124" data-attributes="member: 24910"><p>I think the timing of these Commonwealth Games were one of the major reasons we didn't see many Super Rugby players involved. The reason Tietjens didn't select Super Rugby players wasn't necessarily that he didn't want them, but rather that he wasn't able to get them for as long as he thought was necessary to work with tham. As I understand it he wanted to get hold of them for 3-4 weeks to mould them into 7's players, it sounded like most would only be available for half that time. So basically he had a choice between specialist 7's players who had been with him all year or under-prepared Super Rugby players. I can see why he made the choice he did. Frank Halai would have been included but they discovered he hadn't got around to getting a NZ passport (entirely his own fault) so missed out on selection.</p><p></p><p>Though we had a side including Super Rugby players last time we weren't exactly convincing in the 2010 final either. We were well behind in the final in 2010 before we got a couple of lucky breaks and managed to sneak past Australia in the end. The Super Rugby players weren't actually that impressive last time if I recall correctly either. Messam was disappointing, Gear was very quiet (apart from from the final when he was our best players), Ben Smith was solid but quiet, and Guildford was used mainly off the bench (but was surprisingly the most effective of the 4). The standouts for NZ that tournament were the specialist 7's players - Souness, Forbes, Baker, and Stowers - indeed I thought we were going to lose that final until we took off some of our Super Rugby players and our 7's players took control! I think it is important to note too that the keys players in the South African side that beat us in this tournament (Horne, du Preez, Senalta, Afrika) were specialist 7's players too e.g. Horne, du Preez, Senalta, Afrika.</p><p></p><p>I'm certainly not suggesting we should ignore Super Rugby players, but if we are going to include them we need to give Tietjens as much time as possible with them to mould them into 7's players, and we need to be careful not to expect too much from them...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Darwin, post: 660124, member: 24910"] I think the timing of these Commonwealth Games were one of the major reasons we didn't see many Super Rugby players involved. The reason Tietjens didn't select Super Rugby players wasn't necessarily that he didn't want them, but rather that he wasn't able to get them for as long as he thought was necessary to work with tham. As I understand it he wanted to get hold of them for 3-4 weeks to mould them into 7's players, it sounded like most would only be available for half that time. So basically he had a choice between specialist 7's players who had been with him all year or under-prepared Super Rugby players. I can see why he made the choice he did. Frank Halai would have been included but they discovered he hadn't got around to getting a NZ passport (entirely his own fault) so missed out on selection. Though we had a side including Super Rugby players last time we weren't exactly convincing in the 2010 final either. We were well behind in the final in 2010 before we got a couple of lucky breaks and managed to sneak past Australia in the end. The Super Rugby players weren't actually that impressive last time if I recall correctly either. Messam was disappointing, Gear was very quiet (apart from from the final when he was our best players), Ben Smith was solid but quiet, and Guildford was used mainly off the bench (but was surprisingly the most effective of the 4). The standouts for NZ that tournament were the specialist 7's players - Souness, Forbes, Baker, and Stowers - indeed I thought we were going to lose that final until we took off some of our Super Rugby players and our 7's players took control! I think it is important to note too that the keys players in the South African side that beat us in this tournament (Horne, du Preez, Senalta, Afrika) were specialist 7's players too e.g. Horne, du Preez, Senalta, Afrika. I'm certainly not suggesting we should ignore Super Rugby players, but if we are going to include them we need to give Tietjens as much time as possible with them to mould them into 7's players, and we need to be careful not to expect too much from them... [/QUOTE]
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Rugby Union
IRB Sevens, World Cup & Premiership 7s
2014 Commonwealth Games 7's (26&27/07/14)
Top