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New Zealand coach calls for All Blacks to follow Dupont’s sevens success

New Zealand's Andrew Knewstubb, New Zealand's Tepaea Cook-Savage and New Zealand's Leroy Carter celebrate after a try during the men's placing 5-8 rugby sevens match between New-Zealand and Argentina during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on July 27, 2024. (Photo by CARL DE SOUZA / AFP) (Photo by CARL DE SOUZA/AFP via Getty Images)

New Zealand men’s coach Tomasi Cama believes “it would be good for the game” if some All Blacks and Super Rugby Pacific players considered switching to sevens to pursue Olympic gold, just as France’s Antoine Dupont has.

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Fans and some pundits have weighed in on whether Dupont is now the greatest rugby player of all time after leading France to a famous 28-7 win over two-time defending Olympic champions Fiji in the gold medal match at Stade de France last weekend.

Dupont, 27, scored two tries – including one from a maul – and set up another in a Player of the Match performance that’ll be talked about for generations to come. The Frenchman was a clear standout in the men’s draw during a record-breaking three days at the Saint-Denis venue.

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      World Rugby Guide to Rugby Sevens

      Olympic Rugby Sevens kicks off in Paris on Wednesday. Here’s your full explanation of how it’ll work!

      The former World Rugby 15s Player of the Year, who captained France at their home Rugby World Cup in 2023, debuted on the SVNS Series in February in Vancouver. One week later, Dupont led Les Bleus to their first Cup Final triumph in almost 20 years.

      France went on to claim the overall SVNS Series title at the Grand Final event in Madrid, with Dupont starring in that run to glory just one week on from Toulouse’s win over Leinster in the Champions Cup Final at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

      With the sevens season coming to a close, and after New Zealand finished at the Games following their quarter-final loss to rivals South Africa, coach Tomasi Cama has made it clear that he’d like to see more 15s players switch over.

      “It would be good for the game,” Cama told the New Zealand Herald. “If All Blacks or Super Rugby (players) come and play sevens, it can inspire some other players that are thinking the only way to a Super Rugby (contract) or to the All Blacks is through playing 15s.

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      “There is a pathway here. You can develop a lot of skills; with the skillsets here, you have to be good at all areas of the game. If those big names or players from the ABs came down and played, it would be inspiring for our programme as well, for those young ones coming through.”

      The All Blacks were uncharacteristically off the mark to start the 2023/24 SVNS Series season as they failed to make it past the quarter-final stage in two of the first three events. At SVNS Perth in January, they ended up finishing in the bottom four.

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      New Zealand bounced back with an improved performance in Vancouver, and later claimed titles in both Hong Kong China and Singapore. But this appeared to be just that little bit off the pace with the Olympics rapidly approaching.

      They made the semi-finals at the Grand Final event, so it’s not like they weren’t competitive, but the likes of France, Argentina and an improving Fiji side just looked a class above. Two of those teams would go on to make the Olympic gold medal match.

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      But it must be said that what Dupont achieved was not easy.

      Bryan Habana, Sonny Bill Williams and Michael Hooper have all switched to sevens with mixed results, but they certainly weren’t world-class in that sport like they were in 15s. It’s incredibly difficult to switch from rugby’s traditional format to sevens and succeed.

      While New Zealand are still yet to win gold in men’s rugby sevens at the Olympics, coach Cama also stressed that the All Blacks Sevens’ coaching staff are confident in the players they have at the moment.

      “With the way we performed last season, we really believe in our sevens boys,” Cama explained.

      “We really believe in our programme and the people involved and we want to reward them as well for their hard work.”

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      J
      JW 2 hours ago
      French bid to poach 109kg 17-year-old dual-code Aussie prospect Heinz Lemoto

      Yes that’s what WR needs to look at. Football had the same problem with european powerhouses getting all the latin talent then you’re gaurenteed to get the odd late bloomer (21/22 etc, all the best footballers can play for the country much younger to get locked) star changing his allegiance.


      They used youth rep selection for locking national elifibilty at one point etc. Then later only counted residency after the age of 18 (make clubs/nations like in this case wait even longer).


      That’s what I’m talking about, not changing allegiance in rugby (were it can only be captured by the senior side), where it is still the senior side. Oh yeah, good point about CJ, so in most cases we probably want kids to be able to switch allegiance, were say someone like Lemoto could rep Tonga (if he wasn’t so good) but still play for Australia’s seniors, while in someone like Kite’s (the last aussie kid to go to France) case he’ll be French qualified via 5 years residency at the age of 21, so France to lock him up before Aussie even get a chance to select him. But if we use footballs regulations, who I’m suggesting WR need to get their a into g replicating, he would only start his 5 years once he turns 18 or whatever, meaning 23 yo is as soon as anyone can switch, and when if they’re good enough teams like NZ and Aus can select them (France don’t give a f, they select anybody just to lock them).

      9 Go to comments
      J
      JW 2 hours ago
      Kyren Taumoefolau All Blacks stance splits opinions on eligibility

      The only benefit of the draft idea is league competitiveness. There would be absolutely no commercial value in a draft with rugby’s current interest levels.


      I wonder what came first in america? I’m assuming it’s commercial aspect just built overtime and was a side effect essentially.


      But the idea is not without merit as a goal. The first step towards being able to implement a draft being be creating it’s source of draftees. Where would you have the players come from? NFL uses college, and players of an age around 22 are generally able to step straight into the NFL. Baseball uses School and kids (obviously nowhere near pro level being 3/4 years younger) are sent to minor league clubs for a few years, the equivalent of the Super Rugby academies. I don’t think the latter is possible legally, and probably the most unethical and pointless, so do we create a University scene that builds on and up from the School scene? There is a lot of merit in that and it would tie in much better with our future partners in Japan and America.


      Can we used the club scene and dispose of the Super Rugby academies? The benefit of this is that players have no association to their Super side, ie theyre not being drafted elshwere after spending time as a Blues or Chiefs player etc, it removes the negative of investing in a player just to benefit another club. The disadvantage of course is that now the players have nowhere near the quality of coaching and each countries U20s results will suffer (supposedly).


      Or are we just doing something really dirty and making a rule that the only players under the age of 22 (that can sign a pro contract..) that a Super side can contract are those that come from the draft? Any player wanting to upgrade from an academy to full contract has to opt into the draft?

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