Wellington Sevens, 3-4 February 2012

[Darwin]

The forth round of the Sevens World Series kicks-off in Wellington this weekend. It has been an incredibly close series so far, with New Zealand, Fiji, South Africa, and England all within 4 points of each other at the top of the standings:

[TABLE="class: grid, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD]1st=[/TD]
[TD]Fiji[/TD]
[TD]51[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1st=[/TD]
[TD]New Zealand[/TD]
[TD]51[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]3rd[/TD]
[TD]South Africa[/TD]
[TD]48[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]4th[/TD]
[TD]England[/TD]
[TD]47[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]5th[/TD]
[TD]France[/TD]
[TD]39[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]6th[/TD]
[TD]Australia[/TD]
[TD]38[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]7th[/TD]
[TD]Wales[/TD]
[TD]36[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]8th[/TD]
[TD]Samoa[/TD]
[TD]32[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]9th[/TD]
[TD]Argentina[/TD]
[TD]28[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]10th[/TD]
[TD]Scotland[/TD]
[TD]23[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]11th[/TD]
[TD]United States[/TD]
[TD]17[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]12th[/TD]
[TD]Canada[/TD]
[TD]12[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]13th[/TD]
[TD]Portugal[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]14th=[/TD]
[TD]Kenya[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]14th=[/TD]
[TD]Tonga[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]16th[/TD]
[TD]Zimbabwe[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]17th[/TD]
[TD]Papua New Guinea[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]18th[/TD]
[TD]Japan[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]19th=[/TD]
[TD]Morocco[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]19th=[/TD]
[TD]Niue[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]19th=[/TD]
[TD]United Arab Emirates[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]22nd[/TD]
[TD]Cook Islands[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


Wellington Seves Pools:

​

POOL A: New Zealand, Samoa, Scotland, Japan
POOL B: South Africa, England, USA, Cook Islands
POOL C: Fiji, Wales, Argentina, Tonga
POOL D: France, Australia, Canada, Kenya

New Zealand have confirmed their 12 man squad for the tournament, which includes two debutants (Ardie Savea and Mark Jackman) as well as some guy called Hosea Gear:

Toby Arnold, Tomasi Cama, DJ Forbes, Hosea Gear, Frank Halai, Bryce Heem, Mark Jackman, Solomon King, Tim Mikkelson, Charles Piutau, Lote Raikabula and Ardie Savea.

 

[Mary7]

Yah can't wait!! good luck to NZ, but hope my old homeland Zimbabwe win a game or 2!!

 

[nickdnz]

Yah can't wait!! good luck to NZ, but hope my old homeland Zimbabwe win a game or 2!!

I like watching Zimbabwe play, but they're not in this leg of the 7's.

 

[Mary7]

Well that certaintly puts an end of any chance of them winning a game or two!!! Mwahahaha

I see it's just SA and Kenya from Africa. Hope Kenya play better this weekend, they didn't play at all well the first 3 legs of comp...

 

[Darwin]

The squads of the other leading teams have also been announced.

South Africa:
Chris Dry, Frankie Horne, Boom Prinsloo, Cornal Hendricks, Kyle Brown (captain), Branco du Preez, Bernado Botha, Paul Delport, Cecil Afrika, Steven Hunt, Mark Richards, Stephan Dippenaar.

Fiji:
Setefano CAKAU (captain), James BROWN, Emosi VUCAGO, Levani BOTIA, Sokonaia KALOU, Nemani NAGUSA, Osea KOLINISAU, Taniela MARAVUNAWASAWASA, Jone RAQAMATE, Metuisela TALEBULAMAIJAINA, Waisea VUIDRAVUWALU, Avenisi VASUINUBU

England:
Greg Barden (captain), John Brake, Chris Cracknell, Isoa Damudamu, Christian Lewis-Pratt, Tom Mitchell, Dan Norton, Tom Powell, James Rodwell, Mathew Turner, Rob Vickerman, Marcus Watson

Weather forecast to be fine on both days.

 

[FlukeArtist]

Yeah - got my costume sorted... can't wait!

 

[Milla]

Yeah - got my costume sorted... can't wait!

What are you going as?

 

[Seaton]

Right, someone help me here please.

The games start at 13:00 New Zealand, correct?
NZ is currently 13/12 hours ahead of GMT, correct?
Therefore the event should start at midnight on Thursday night in the UK, correct?

How the hell can I watch the stuff if Sky's coverage only starts at 7 AM! Surely I am looking at something wrong?

 

[Darwin]

Right, someone help me here please.

The games start at 13:00 New Zealand, correct? YES
NZ is currently 13/12 hours ahead of GMT, correct? 13 at the moment
Therefore the event should start at midnight on Thursday night in the UK, correct? Correct - it starts in 5 hours

How the hell can I watch the stuff if Sky's coverage only starts at 7 AM! Surely I am looking at something wrong? Well you certainly can't watch it live, if that is the case!

Sounds like you have been screwed over by Sky!

 

[Seaton]

Sounds like you have been screwed over by Sky!

I checked on their website, couldn't find it. Why?

It is listed as live starting at 6 Am :/

Aye, one hour live of sevens hours of play. :/

 

[Darwin]

I checked on their website, couldn't find it. Why?

It is listed as live starting at 6 Am :/

Aye, one hour live of sevens hours of play. :/

Look on the bright side - at least you wont have to watch Scotland losing to New Zealand and Samoa

 

[Draggs]

Wales squad: Lee Williams, Steffan Jones, Alex Walker, Jean Baptiste Bruzulier, Kristian Phillips, Rhys Patchell, Matthew Pewtner, Rhys Shellard, Will Price, Richie Pugh, Richard Smith, Owen P Williams

Great to see Stef and Matthew in the squad.
Who is Jean Baptiste Bruzulier??

 

[Darwin]

Wales squad: Lee Williams, Steffan Jones, Alex Walker, Jean Baptiste Bruzulier, Kristian Phillips, Rhys Patchell, Matthew Pewtner, Rhys Shellard, Will Price, Richie Pugh, Richard Smith, Owen P Williams

Great to see Stef and Matthew in the squad.
Who is Jean Baptiste Bruzulier??

Bloody poaching Welsh.... you probably get that from the English

(Apparently he is a halfback that play for Saracens Sevens... that is all I could find out..)

 

[Darwin]

Actually not a bad looking Wales team. They may well fancy their chances of upsetting Fiji and getting top of Pool C, as the Fiji side looks very inexperienced (5 new caps).

 

[Draggs]

Yeah, I found pics of him palying for the Saracens but wondered if anyone knew anything more. Which WP club (if any) is he with?
Rhys Llewellyn playing for NZ Sevens yet, Darwin?

 

[Darwin]

Yeah, I found pics of him palying for the Saracens but wondered if anyone knew anything more. Which WP club (if any) is he with?
Rhys Llewellyn playing for NZ Sevens yet, Darwin?

Not yet, but you can bet he will be before long. We aren't sneaky enough to make the Under 20's are official second team (like some other teams I know ), so we need to get him playing Sevens for us as soon as possible to lock him in for New Zealand (so you guys can't have him back ).

 

[Draggs]

Ah well, I suppose it's fair for grabbing Sonny Parker after all. And the Chief, thanks for the Chief.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Daniel Kidd is another Welshman plying his trade in NZ or was.

 

[Darwin]

Daniel Kidd is another Welshman plying his trade in NZ or was.

I haven't heard of him, but I will definitely keep an eye out for him.

Anyways.... the tournament kicks of in just over an hour. First game is South Africa vs USA, followed by England vs Cook Islands.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

I haven't heard of him, but I will definitely keep an eye out for him.

Anyways.... the tournament kicks of in just over an hour. First game is South Africa vs USA, followed by England vs Cook Islands.

Kidd will be around 20 years of age, so he may well not have developed.