What happened to our Rio Sevens Rugby Team ..was it the ref's fault?

Forums › Sports › What happened to our Rio Sevens Rugby Team ..was it the ref's fault?

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#1610096 11-Aug-2016 13:44

We were lacking in speed and energy. No speed, no energy = no chance of winning sevens knockout. The rest of the world have international quality sprinters in their sides. We have flankers and boxers, not even outside backs!

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#1610097 11-Aug-2016 13:46

PS remember they were in the quarters by luck anyway ... lost to Japan and GB ... no surprises when you then lose to Fiji

MikeB4

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#1610104 11-Aug-2016 13:57

This post is not an admission that this alleged event took place because it didn't. Now I have felt for a while our Sevens Team was tired and lacking in innovation. I think it is time for some changes and new blood from the couching staff down. Gordon Tietjens has done a great job over the years and is the sports if not Rugby in general finest coaches and ambassadors but I feel he has been coach too long.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

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#1610142 11-Aug-2016 14:35

MikeB4:

This post is not an admission that this alleged event took place because it didn't. Now I have felt for a while our Sevens Team was tired and lacking in innovation. I think it is time for some changes and new blood from the couching staff down. Gordon Tietjens has done a great job over the years and is the sports if not Rugby in general finest coaches and ambassadors but I feel he has been coach too long.

100% agree with you.

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#1610184 11-Aug-2016 16:04

An olympic gold is potentially worth a lot of money an exposure. Potentially it gets more exposure than the rugby world cup. So you have to wonder why our team wasn't really all that competitive, and the other countries were just better better. This should have really been one of NZs best chances for a gold medal, so if sevens isn't a permanant sport in future games, we may have lost that opportunity to win a gold in it. IMO 7's rugby doesn't even compare to regular rugby as an actual sport, so you wonder why they didn't bring in an under 21 rugby tournament, like they do for football, instead of the sevens.

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#1610191 11-Aug-2016 16:11

mattwnz:

An olympic gold is potentially worth a lot of money an exposure. Potentially it gets more exposure than the rugby world cup. So you have to wonder why our team wasn't really all that competitive, and the other countries were just better better. This should have really been one of NZs best chances for a gold medal, so if sevens isn't a permanant sport in future games, we may have lost that opportunity to win a gold in it. IMO 7's rugby doesn't even compare to regular rugby as an actual sport, so you wonder why they didn't bring in an under 21 rugby tournament, like they do for football, instead of the sevens.

Was thinking about this question (topic) earlier today. In the Union discussion topic, I surmised that Teitjens was as least fairly heavily to blame, for various reasons, but NZRU deserves a fair bit of blame too. Arguably, in 2016, the Olympics is the most important event our Rugby teams will be part of, so

I think a lot of resources should have been put toward it, which consistently there was complaints it was not, and I believe players like Savea and Smith were allowed to prioritize 15's over 7's and Savea was allowed to return to 15's on short notice.

I feel the 7's Olympics thing wasn't handled that well overall, but I am not a huge follower and can't profess the same knowledge as I'd like to think I have of 15's and I expect there to be many more nuances to the reasons for our failures than those I've mentioned.

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#1610284 11-Aug-2016 19:41

MikeB4:

This post is not an admission that this alleged event took place because it didn't. Now I have felt for a while our Sevens Team was tired and lacking in innovation. I think it is time for some changes and new blood from the couching staff down. Gordon Tietjens has done a great job over the years and is the sports if not Rugby in general finest coaches and ambassadors but I feel he has been coach too long.

In the article linked to below, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has called for an official review:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11691985

This article says that: "Hansen disagreed that New Zealand's top players might be ordered to attend the next Olympics in Tokyo. When you do that you're taking away peoples' choices of what game they want to play... that's not the way you run your business or the way you treat your employees."

So the emphasis is not so much on the coaching staff or the referees, but more on whether or not the best players went to Rio. The article says that the most obvious case was Ardie Savea pulling out of the sevens squad due to his desire to play for the Hurricanes.

Nevertheless, I sometimes wonder whether there might be a case for a younger and more vigorously competitive coach for the Sevens. And perhaps it's also a mistake that Steve Hansen hasn't been replaced for the next world cup by a younger man, perhaps a recently retired All Black?

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#1610285 11-Aug-2016 19:55

Steve Hansen has a 91% win rate and is still winning there is no reason he should not be leading the ABs to the next World Cup.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

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#1610340 11-Aug-2016 21:33

We weren't good enough. There could be many reasons why.

We didn't peak at the right time (unfortunately, looking at this year's World Rugby Sevens Series results we peaked in February).

We had some injuries.

We did have a few referees' calls go against us but so did other teams (calls tend to even themselves out unless you're assuming a biased or corrupt ref).

One thing I wonder about is the players who don't usually play sevens who decided they wanted a shot at an Olympic medal. Liam Messam and Sonny Bill Williams come to mind. I'm not saying they're not good rugby players but they're not sevens specialists. Did their crack at a bit of personal glory disrupt what has been a pretty successful team?

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#1610345 11-Aug-2016 21:46

Messam was originally a 7's player (captain in fact). This was his return, also he didnt actually make the squad.. Called in as backup.

Ultimately the squad has not had a good season, we had no real reason to think they had a great chance based on form in the last 24 months. 7's is ruthless game, with no time to right wrongs whether thats a defensive lapse, a knock on or a bad referee call.

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#1610382 11-Aug-2016 23:33

andrew027:

We weren't good enough. There could be many reasons why.

We didn't peak at the right time (unfortunately, looking at this year's World Rugby Sevens Series results we peaked in February).

We had some injuries.

We did have a few referees' calls go against us but so did other teams (calls tend to even themselves out unless you're assuming a biased or corrupt ref).

One thing I wonder about is the players who don't usually play sevens who decided they wanted a shot at an Olympic medal. Liam Messam and Sonny Bill Williams come to mind. I'm not saying they're not good rugby players but they're not sevens specialists. Did their crack at a bit of personal glory disrupt what has been a pretty successful team?

NZ has been pretty poor at sevens relatively speaking, for the last few years. I remember the days when really the only teams in sevens were Fiji and NZ at the HK sevens. Part of it has to do with the other teams improving and putting far more money into it, which considering it is for teh Olympic, this should have happened for NZ. It only comes around every 4 years like the Rugby World cup, so should have been treated in the same way.. I think we would have had a far better chance if they had access to all the players they wanted. IMO it was a bit of an embarrassment, especially as the UK commentators were calling them the All Blacks. Japan isn't a bad team, but we should never have lost to them in the Olympics, nor the UK, although they did have a good 'almost' comeback in that game.

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#1610385 11-Aug-2016 23:59

One of my gripes in the rugby union thread is the refereeing lottery.

I don't know much about scoring for diving and gymnastics but to me the tackle/ruck/breakdown remains a mystery to one who's been watching rugby since 1999.

I am willing to be shot to say that winning a tournament in rugby is as much lottery as winning a coin toss. Thanks to the ref lottery effect. Well we did win the RWC twice in a row now, so it's only fair that teams get the rub in the Olympics.

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#1610496 12-Aug-2016 09:35

Well, even though we are well out of the medals, at least we beat Argentina 17-14 in the play-offs. The conflict between players selecting between 15's rugby and 7's rugby really has to be sorted out, but I'd rather see the 15's version at the Olympics. With the 7's you only need to have a player sent off for a couple of minutes to effectively ruin the game. I think it's ok to send a player off but they should allow an immediate replacement so that the game continues to be a worthwhile contest. I don't think the 7's version should ever have made it to the Olympics.

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#1610502 12-Aug-2016 09:39

frednz:

Well, even though we are well out of the medals, at least we beat Argentina 17-14 in the play-offs. The conflict between players selecting between 15's rugby and 7's rugby really has to be sorted out, but I'd rather see the 15's version at the Olympics. With the 7's you only need to have a player sent off for a couple of minutes to effectively ruin the game. I think it's ok to send a player off but they should allow an immediate replacement so that the game continues to be a worthwhile contest. I don't think the 7's version should ever have made it to the Olympics.

15's in the Olympics will never happen and I am happy it's so. We have the RWC to determine the best country in the world in 15's and there isn't space for another 4 year tournament esp since it would occur the year immediately after. The way you prep for an olympics is different to that of other events I believe. It would decimate regular 15's seasons playing stocks.

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#1610517 12-Aug-2016 09:57

joker97:

PS remember they were in the quarters by luck anyway ... lost to Japan and GB ... no surprises when you then lose to Fiji

stop blaming the refs. as the above post, we barely made the quarterfinals and have to rely to fiji beating USA by 5 points. it is a shame that we always have someone to blame everytime we lose..

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