SA Sevens

[Black_Magic]

Nelson Mandela Bay Sevens
8-9 December 2012, Port Elizabeth

Pools drawn:
A: Samoa, France, South Africa, Australia (!)
B: New Zealand, Fiji, England, Scotland (!!!)
C: Kenya, Argentina, Wales, Spain
D: Portugal, Canada, USA, Zimbabwe (!)

I wonder how do they form the pools. Three out of four are ridiculous, even considering that Canada and Portugal have been of form lately and England and Australia not necessarily.
Teams in pool B won 7 out of 9 tournament last season. on the other hand, teams from pools C and D - never mind winning - only reached the semifinal twice (in both cases Argentina).
Is this completely random or maybe just takes only the previous tournament into account? Even in the latter case, at least the last four should be allocated to different pools (and here we have Samoa and France together in pool A and no such team in pool D).

Anyway looking forward to seeing some great games again!

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

yeah, pools A & B are ridiculously strong compared to C & D. Though England, France, Aus and SA all had games to forget about after the weekend these pools hardly reflect the different teams' capabilities.

At the same time I can't help feeling it adds a little edge to proceedings and is a fit 'reward' to teams like Canada and Portugal for their fantastic efforts in the previous games. It only means SA, England and the like will have to get up and show what they are made of again to take their 'rightful' place back.

Current points;

1. New Zealand 38
2. Fiji 32
2. Kenya 32
2. Samoa 32
5. France 27
6. South Africa 24
7. Argentina 21
8. Wales 18
9. Canada 17
10. Australia 11
10. Portugal 11
12. England 10
12. Spain 10

A: Samoa, France, South Africa, Australia (94 points together)
B: New Zealand, Fiji, England, Scotland
(80 points + Scotland)
C: Kenya, Argentina, Wales, Spain
(89 points)
D: Portugal, Canada, USA, Zimbabwe
(28 points + USA and Zim)

 

[William18]

The pools do seem a little bit ridiculous. It's obviously good for some of the lesser countries having a bit of an easier run. Also a team like England can't really complain because they have been terrible this year. It is still tough on us, Fiji and Samoa though. You obviously want to keep things competitive but it seems a little bit contrived right now.

It's going to be an interesting weekend anyway.

 

[dudeabides]

USA having one of those up an up and down tournament I've been watching in pool D. After losing the opening match 12 to 26 to the Portuguese, they managed to beat Canada by the similar score 26 to 12. But who knows what the score would have been in that 2nd match if the refs hadn't sent off Mack fairly early for throwing a punch at Luke Hume.

 

[usausa]

USA use fortunate draw to their advantage by defeating Zimbabwe 21-17. Score is deceiving as Zimbabwe scored at full time. None the less though, this is what USA fans wanted to see. It may not have been the way we all thought (blowout to Portugal, beat Canada after send-off, close one to Zimbabwe) but all that matters is that we made it to the Cup QF. Interesting notes I posted on social media earlier:

*First time USA will finish in Top 8 in a World Series tournament since the 2010 Dubai Sevens (2010-11 season).
*2010 Adelaide Sevens (2009-10 season) was last time USA advanced past quarterfinals. They beat Wales (12-10) and Argentina (28-10) in QF and SF respectively. They ended up losing in the final to Samoa 38-10, the only time the USA has ever advanced to a Cup Final.
*QF appearance was 2010 Hong Kong Sevens. Lost to Samoa 24-7 in QF, then lost Australia 21-12 in Plate SF. That tournament, Samoa won the Cup and Australia the Plate.
*2009 USA Sevens (2008-09 season), the USA advanced to a Cup QF. They defeated to Kenya in QF 14-7, then lost to Argentina 19-14. Argentina won the Cup by same score over England.
*QF appearances in 2008-09 season were also made in South Africa and Wellington.
*Plate runner up in 2007 South Africa Sevens (2007-08 season). Lost to Kenya 15-14 in plate final. Lost to Cup winner NZ in Cup QF. That was USA's first Cup QF in their SWS history. Team featured future star Takudzwa Ngwenya.

 

[LittleGuy]

Disaster day for Canada after the Zimbabwe game. The sending off ended any chance of us beating the States, and the performance against Portugal was weak. Have a tough game tommorow vs. Samoa who are almost certain to rebound, I have a feeling at best we will be in the Shield final which is one of our worst showings in a long time.

 

[dudeabides]

Did anyone else see the try scoring celebration the Zimbabwe players like to do or were my eyes playing tricks late at night?

 

[Muzzy]

So Fiji beat New Zealand and England but lost to Scotland, let me guess they got a yellow card against Scotland? and WOW Samoa didn't even make the quarter finals this time after winning the whole thing last week

Btw they base the draws on how they did the previous week, Portugal and Canada made the cup quarter finals last week while South Africa and England didn't. They draw the teams randomly from teams that made the finals, teams that went to the plate etc to make up the pools, they usually show them drawing it out before the final

 

[usausa]

New Zealand win Cup over France with dominating 47-12 win.
South Africa won third over Wales.
Wales won plate over Fiji.
Losing plate semi-finalists were Portgual and USA.
Australia won Bowl over Samoa.
Losing semi-finalists were Kenya and England
Spain over Zimbabwe for Shield.
Losing semi-finalists were Canada and Scotland.

Player of tournament determined to be Tomasi Cama, NZL.

Updated SWS Standings.

 

[LittleGuy]

Disastrous tournament by Canada, especially following such a good showing the weak before, only one win over the guest team and tied for last place. Mack's Red Card vs. the USA put us in such a hole and the team looked tired and disinterested. Luckily there ae a couple of months off now to regroup.

 

[norcalbuff]

While it was great to get some points and get out of the relegation playoff zone for now, it's a pretty underwhelming performance by us when you consider that our only wins were over Zimbabwe and a Canadian team that played almost the entire match with 6 men. If Mack doesn't get a red, we probably lose that game too.

The good news is that Carlin Isles is going to continue to improve and we are a pretty dangerous team when we can get him, Hume and Unufe all on the pitch at the same time. I'd like to see less of Test, Hawkins and Edwards. Hopefully all of our injured guys heal in time for Wellington and Las Vegas.

 

[usausa]

While it was great to get some points and get out of the relegation playoff zone for now, it's a pretty underwhelming performance by us when you consider that our only wins were over Zimbabwe and a Canadian team that played almost the entire match with 6 men. If Mack doesn't get a red, we probably lose that game too.

The good news is that Carlin Isles is going to continue to improve and we are a pretty dangerous team when we can get him, Hume and Unufe all on the pitch at the same time. I'd like to see less of Test, Hawkins and Edwards. Hopefully all of our injured guys heal in time for Wellington and Las Vegas.

In terms of the Canadian game, they had to take advantage of that send-off, it would've been underwhelming if they didn't! They got better as Day 1 went on, which is positive. They lost to the host SA in the QF, and kept it close, and only allowed 1 try in the second half! And the US usually have defensive issues in the second half. They then lost to plate winners Wales, who beat Fiji pretty good in the plate final. Was also the second consecutive plate for them. Now yes, the US needs to put up more points and cut the silly turnovers, but they needed a solid tournament, and they got one. Even if they didn't play to their full potential, the fact they got this QF appearance serves as good momentum heading into this two month layoff before NZ.

 

[BZHopenside]

We were tied 19-19 with Wales and had the ball in good position, but then they intercepted. It's small mistakes like that that really separate the top teams from the rest.