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‘Backs against the wall’: All Blacks Sevens move on with win over Fiji
The All Blacks Sevens are through to the SVNS Vancouver semi-finals after hanging on for a hard-fought 21-19 win over traditional sevens rivals Fiji on Saturday evening.
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After losing their opening match of the three-day event to South Africa, the New Zealanders have bounced back with a few statement wins on the trot to book their spot in the final four.
New Zealand opened the scoring against Fiji at Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium with Akuila Rokolisoa slipping over, but just managing to stay inside the field of play in the third minute.
Fiji struck back with two quick tries to Pilipo Bukayaro and Rere Ropate but the All Blacks Sevens weren’t done. Joe Webber and Sam Dickson got on the scoresheet in the second half.
Fiji made it a two-point game with a late penalty try against the New Zealanders, and a yellow card to match, but the Kiwis held strong in the final 30 seconds to remain in the Cup final hunt.
“We talked about starting the tournament well and we didn’t, we lost to a really good South African team,” All Blacks Sevens’ Tim Mikkelson told RugbyPass.
“We talked a lot about starting out games well after that and pretty much every game after that we’ve started well and we’ve scored first.
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“It’s just about building momentum and it’s pretty tough these days with the pools so we’re extremely happy to get away with that win.”
New Zealand have only made one other semi-final during the opening few rounds of the 2023/24 season and that was the Series’ opening leg in Dubai.
The All Blacks Sevens were knocked out by Ireland in the SVNS Cape Town quarter-finals, and they failed to make it out of the pool stage at last month’s event in Perth.
Looking to turn their season around at the Canadian venue this weekend, they were dealt a couple of tough blows with Leroy Carter (injury) ruled out ahead of the tournament.
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Roderick Solo has since been cited for head-on-head contact and will miss three matches. But the All Blacks Sevens have kept finding a way.
“It was sort of backs against the wall (after losing to South Africa), we had to win the next two games to go through,” Mikkelson said.
“A lot of young boys, they’re stepping up. We’ve got a guy out for a citing and a few niggles but the boys have played amazing.
“We’re starting the games well, we’re building momentum and then we’re hanging on at the end and that was an awesome win with six at the end there against an amazing Fijian team.”
The All Blacks Sevens will go head-to-head with Antoine Dupont’s France on Sunday in a battle for a spot in the SVNS Vancouver final.
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments