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All Blacks Sevens: a team worth following

By Campbell Burnes
Etene Nanai-Seturo was a star in his first year with All Blacks Sevens in 2018. Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images

There’s a big sevens tournament in Hamilton this weekend.

Apparently. Round three of the 2018-19 World Sevens Series, no less.

Gee, you wouldn’t know it given the dearth of wider national media coverage, certainly in New Zealand’s largest newspaper.

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Not that long ago, the NZ Sevens in Wellington was given wall to wall coverage. Of the footy, that is. Then it morphed into a closer look at how drunk people got (very) before the event upped sticks after 18 mostly successful years in the capital.

The All Blacks, as we know, monopolise media coverage, often to the detriment of other national teams. That is not the All Blacks’ fault, of course. But some of the mainstream media might need jolting that the Olympics are in Tokyo next year.

The All Blacks Sevens will be there, anxious to perform better than in 2016 when they imploded in spectacularly unexpected style in Rio. They just have to qualify in this World Series cycle. They should do it, as coach Clark Laidlaw has proven he is on the right track after the odd early hiccup.

After the departure of Sir Gordon Tietjens, one of the greatest talent scouts in the history of rugby, in 2016, things got messy for the All Blacks Sevens. The anointed one, Laidlaw himself, had to see out the second season of his London Irish contract. Scott Waldrom manfully stepped up as interim coach and did a fair job in difficult circumstances, helped by the admirable old warhorse DJ Forbes.

Laidlaw has built a culture, helped immeasurably by a centralised training base which sees the squad train together in Mt Maunganui. However, they had to settle for third place in the 2017-18 World Series. But they were peaking for two big events – the April Commonwealth Games and the July RWC Sevens. They delivered in style in both marquee tournaments. On the Gold Coast, their dissection of Fiji in the final was a tactical masterpiece. Led by a superb display in the RWC final against England by skipper Scott Curry, they were clinical in the clutch.

The 20-man squad for 2019 is full of experience, pace, sevens nous and X-factor. Many have re-signed medium-term, which shows they want be part of the sevens landscape. In the past it was mostly used as a stepping stone to Super Rugby.

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We will have to wait a bit longer to see Niko Jones in action, but he is a tremendous young talent who could easily be in Tokyo. The unheralded work comes from the likes of Sam Dickson, strong aerially, Andrew Knewstubb and Dylan Collier.

The side showed a heap of resilience and character to overcome a plethora of injuries to open up the 2018-19 World Series with a Cup final win in Dubai, their first in the UAE since 2009. Fourth position in Cape Town was as a direct result of those injuries.

So, in between mowing the lawns and checking on the cricket this Saturday, tune in at 12.36pm, 4.26pm and 8.36pm. New Zealand should romp through its pool, but watch for form, patterns of play and who looks sharp. Then watch even more closely on Sunday when the real edge is there. Keep watching this team between now and Tokyo 2020. They are worth it.

In other news:

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Jon 6 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 9 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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