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All Blacks Sevens veteran’s candid assessment of ‘tough’ day in Cape Town
Walking in silence away from the buzzing fandom of supporters, the All Blacks Sevens were visibly disappointed as they walked down the Cape Town Stadium tunnel on Saturday.
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For a team that harboured genuine ambitions of winning it all at the Cape Town SVNS this weekend, New Zealand’s quest had taken a tough blow with a 21-14 loss to rivals Samoa in the early evening.
That defeat sealed the All Blacks Sevens’ uncharacteristically poor finish in Pool C, with an earlier loss to surprise package Canada seeing the Kiwis finish in third place.
New Zealand managed to record what seemed to be a statement 35-5 win over Trans-Tasman foe Australia in between those other games, but their success was short-lived in the end.
With their entire Cape Town SVNS campaign hanging in the balance, the New Zealanders walked towards their changeroom in silence – with some players looking blankly at the ground.
It was almost painfully clear how visibly upset the players seemed to be after a “patchy” day at the office, but veteran Scott Curry took a moment to affirm that the team “can be a lot better.”
“I felt we didn’t really get into the game in that last one,” Curry told RugbyPass.
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“I mean we could see what we do when we get a bit of ball and play well against Australia but the World Series is tough these days.
“Every game is tough so you’ve got to be on every single time, every minute, every game.
“We probably didn’t quite play as well as we wanted to in that last game but I think we’re taking what we’re doing in preparation around our analysis of other teams and we’re actually putting it onto the park,” he added.
“We just need to be a little bit tidier around our ball retention. That’s probably the only thing that’s going to kill us, I think.”
The All Blacks Sevens couldn’t have started the match any better, and maybe that’s what made the terrible taste of defeat so bitter and tough to swallow.
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Ngarohi McGarvey-Black pounced on a bouncing ball to race down the field, with the playmaker throwing an ambitious cut-out pass to Sione Molia for a try after just 14 seconds.
But the All Blacks Sevens’ next score wouldn’t come until the last minute, with three tries for Samoa seeing the Pacific Islanders race out to a somewhat comfortable 21-7 lead.
While Scott Curry’s try in the final minute offered the New Zealanders a glimmer of hope, it wasn’t to be as Samoa held on for a promising victory.
“It’s always a big physical battle against our Samoan brothers. It was sort of tit for tat there and probably just guilty of giving away possession a little bit too easily,” Curry said.
“They took their opportunities when they had them and we couldn’t fight our way back into it that time.”
With the new-look SVNS series granting two third-placed sides safe passage through to the quarter-finals, the All Blacks Sevens were handed a lifeline in South Africa.
New Zealand have progressed through to the cup quarter-finals where they’ll face Ireland – who beat hosts South Africa in the final game on day one – at 10.56 am local time.
Comments on RugbyPass
Interesting 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.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 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.
2 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
2 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…
1 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 commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
33 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
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