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SVNS

die_mole said:
Wondering if Dupont works cause he's the best player in the world and would dominate no matter what or cause he can organize full time sevens players.
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People were talking about this on tw the other day. Guy is a freak. No question about it. If i remember correctly BOD gave sevens a try (albeit after his prime) and didn't do that well. So did Bryan Habana. Of course they were ok but it's not as if they instantly took their teasm to a new level. Not even close. It is not the same game. Mindset is very, very different. The possession vs territory equation is completely different and the power vs speed one for each player too. The sevens players are all not bad at anything. 15's players are mostly specialists, 7s are all good all-rounders. They have to be. Every prop has to be able to throw a rather precise 15-meter spiral pass (both sides) at full speed and be able to run 100 meters in under 13 secs. Plus decision making, course. Sevens is a very, very, very fast-paced game.
In XV your focus is to try to be very good at something. You can hide your flaws or have someone else cover for you. In 7s your focus is not to be bad at anything.

I always remember Carlyn Isles (fastest rugby player ever, US sevens). Ball in hand, with space, he was a monster. Hardly anyone could catch him. Tons, TONS of videos of him running around players and scoring amazing tries. What they dont tell you: he cost the US team a gazillion tries too because he was not good on defense, and when people attacked them they focused on having a 1v1 vs him. Covering for a weakness in 15s i difficult but manageable (how many top tier FHs couldnt tackle!). In 7s that is much, much harder. You dont have the space nor the time.

I was thinking which pumas' players would i poach for the 7s. Couldnt think of many and they'd be 50/50 fighting for their spot. Moroni maybe? Matera?

Guys like dupont in France, McKenzie/savea/BB in NZ, Kolbe or de Allende in RSA. But look at those names. They are all freaks and they are all good at everything.
 
Cruz_del_Sur said:
We made a few very, very stupid and costly mistakes (isgro's YC) but did you see Args second yellow card? Or Ireland's last try (foot on touch?)?
Unlucky at the very least.
It is (almost) impossible after that.

We were in complete control of the game, 5 mins to go, 9 points ahead, against an opponent we had JUST beaten in the last group stage game and we threw it away with a silly, stupid and unnecessary yc.
Fortunately, and this is what keeps my hopes v high, I listened to the post-game cuddle and they know what went wrong, they know how to fix it and their confidence is through the roof.
They'll learn from this and come back stronger.
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It was a bit of a blow up alright and don't think it'll affect either side in the long run. We threw away our chance to capitalise as well in the semi. One player, Comerford, was worth a 17 point swing in France's favour, could have offloaded to give Conroy a walkover but gave away a penalty instead which France scored off and then made a horrendous tackle attempt to let France run in from 60m. Everything our team does well is through Terry Kennedy though, need another point of difference.

WR got exactly what they wanted with a Dupont win though.
 
double gold, first time in ages i've just sat down and watched almost a full day of SVNS, on and off whilst doing stuff,...and what a day to do it


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Crazy stuff. Look at Arg's pool! Arg won against Aus in extra time and lost vs US one in extra time, too.
Ireland and NZ, 2nd and 3rd from last year's series, both in different zones, neither of them made it our of their groups.

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These are tomorrow's semis

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Spains (who've been doing great this season) and 3 from the same group in the last 4.
Crazy season.
 
Cruz_del_Sur said:
Crazy stuff. Look at Arg's pool! Arg won against Aus in extra time and lost vs US one in extra time, too.
Ireland and NZ, 2nd and 3rd from last year's series, both in different zones, neither of them made it our of their groups.

View attachment 22727

These are tomorrow's semis

View attachment 22728

Spains (who've been doing great this season) and 3 from the same group in the last 4.
Crazy season.
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The turnover in our squad from the olympics is massive. We'll be languishing at the bottom this year at least.
 
You lost your speedster, right? But if i recall correctly, Kennedy is still playing. Right? Amazing player.
We lost Isgro (sevens player of the year) and Revol (most capped player, captain, etc. He retired). We still have a strong squad and the same coach, but i believe our peak was 2024.
 
Cruz_del_Sur said:
You lost your speedster, right? But if i recall correctly, Kennedy is still playing. Right? Amazing player.
We lost Isgro (sevens player of the year) and Revol (most capped player, captain, etc. He retired). We still have a strong squad and the same coach, but i believe our peak was 2024.
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Conroy is still around but Kennedy has taken a step back I believe, not sure if it's retirement.

McNulty is a big loss too, knew the game so well and did a lot of dog work without setting the world alight. Squad definitely in transition.
 
Leonormous Boozer said:
Conroy is still around but Kennedy has taken a step back I believe, not sure if it's retirement.

McNulty is a big loss too, knew the game so well and did a lot of dog work without setting the world alight. Squad definitely in transition.
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Zac Ward with Ulster and Mullins and kinda Smith with Connacht as well. Honestly don't know a decent number of the player's whether it be from 20s or anything.
 
I feel compelled to drop a few words. After 2023-24's season i had mixed feelings. The end of an era was on sight. We won the league but lost the cup. Moneta injured himself in HK and the impact on the rest of the team was obvious. But the OGs were up ahead, with (what it seemed at the time) enough time for Moneta to recover, AND with a tremendous roster. Moneta, Isgro and Gonzalez would have all easily made it to the circuit's team. The rest of the team had a strange combination of grit, hunger and experience that is only found by chance. The coach had a plan and this time he had the players to execute in. In spades. Isgro and Revol had announced that they would retire from svns (one due to age, the other moving to XVs), which is generally a bittersweet thing but adds to the lets-do-it-one-last-time effect. So on paper, it looked as if everything was aligned for us to reach Paris' games at our peak. That didnt work out. We lost two games we should have won and that cost us dearly. Could have, should have, would have... the excuses losers like to resort to.

I sincerely thought we had lost our shot. I expected the team to be competitive, and able to beat anyone on a good day, but not like this. What these guys have been doing, and how they've been doing it is simply out of this world. They have obliterated everything that has been put on their path. I watched the final and noticed that the guys were, understandably, very, very nervous. Schulz in particular had a nightmare of a 1H. Gave away like 3 penalties, lost the ball, conceded a turnover... all in just 7 minutes. But the guys had a plan, stuck to it, and it worked. The final score was 12-5, but i find a bit misleading in terms of how close it was, as France's score came 5 secs before the final whistle. Just as a benchmark, France beat Fiji 24-17 in the last minute of the Semi final. Arg beat Fiji 35-5 in the group stages.

They've won the last three tourneys of the series (Perth, Vancouver, HK) and are heading to SGP with a 12 point lead.

I couldnt be prouder. And last, but most certainly not least, kudos to Gomez Cora (head coach), the genius behind all of this.
 

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