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InternationalFijiFranceSamoaUSA

Pacific islanders dominate Hong Kong 7s 'dream team'


Tofatu Solia
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Pacific island players dominated the HSBC Hong Kong Sevens ‘Dream Team’ after a historic weekend in the code’s most famous tournament.

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Fiji created history by securing a fifth consecutive title in Hong Kong with a 21-7 victory over France in the Cup final at the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, while USA claimed third place to maintain their lead in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series standings with three rounds remaining.

Unsurprisingly Fiji had two players in the dream team: Meli Derenalagi and Jerry Tuwai, while Samoa’s Tofatu Solia and Johnny Vaili made the cut.

France also boasted a pair in the seven: Gabin Villiere and Tavite Veredamu; while rugby’s fastest man, Carlin Isles, was the lone American in the team.

Fiji created history by securing a fifth consecutive title in Hong Kong with a 21-7 victory over France in the Cup final at the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, while USA claimed third place to maintain their lead in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series standings with three rounds remaining.

Over the course of three scintillating days of action played out in front of over 100,000 fans at the Hong Kong Stadium, Gareth Baber’s side enthralled the crowd as they achieved something that no other nation has ever done.

With just three full rounds to go on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2019, the tournament victory means that Fiji jump ahead of New Zealand in the world series standings and sit in second.

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The USA are on top with 130 points while South Africa are fourth on 99 points, nine ahead of their chasers England in fifth.

At the end of all ten rounds of this year’s world series, the top four teams will qualify their places at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Japan are the only side currently qualified due to automatic qualification as the host nation.

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Comments on RugbyPass

T
TokoRFC 4 minutes ago
Wallabies hopeful James Ramm joins New Zealand NPC side before Force move

Wow, isn’t this guy pretty damn good, I’d like to see a few more super rugby level Aussies in the NPC rasing the quality of the comp

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L
Lou Cifer 7 minutes ago
Erasmus is all too aware of the Pollock nightmare that threatens South Africa



It breeds a subtle, subconscious complacency

It’s a double-edged sword which could see England up 21-0 after 20mins or lose by 20+



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N
Nickers 18 minutes ago
There's only one selection that truly matters for the All Blacks this July

Those first two games against England??? They were diabolical. They set the scene for the circus that followed.

England played so badly, and we matched them every step of the way. But for a once every 5 years performance from Beaudy in the second test we would have lost by 10.



...

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P
Phantom 33 minutes ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



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M
Mzilikazi 35 minutes ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Great article, Nick. I do wonder if a fatigue factor might skew results in this July leg though. And injuries will certainly curtail Ireland, I fear. The opposite ofc will be a factor in the autumn leg, the NH players nicely into their season, with hopefully fewer injuries.

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M
Mzilikazi 42 minutes ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Be tough for France if they don’t field the Toulouse and Montpellier players. I do think there is maybe a bit of overconfidence in the NZ press over the Rennie factor. We will see.

Ireland are very down on full strength. Badly at LHP. Depends what sort of team Schmidt picks too. He has already, imo, made a bad error leaving out LSL. ut I can see the WB’s winning this one. France will be tougher I feel, with the Toulouse and MP players coming in….like Meafou !!



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J
JM 44 minutes ago
'Your brain picks up there's less oxygen... it hits you from the start' - but does altitude still really matter?

When RSA came back into the rugby fold it seemed everyone in NZ was stressed about playing them at altitude. Not just the effects on the body but the effects on the ball and how it changed how the game was played.

I reckon for the first couple of years there was a chunky dose self psyching involved on our part, when in a normal game you'd start to feel fatigued at 60 it was just standard but when you started to feel fatigued at altitude after 60 you convinced yourself that it was the sign of you hitting the wall and that played games with you.



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S
SS 48 minutes ago
Erasmus is all too aware of the Pollock nightmare that threatens South Africa

The Boks are all salivating…😜

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j
johnz 49 minutes ago
There's only one selection that truly matters for the All Blacks this July

People make culture, you can't build a culture by reading a manual left behind by all the staff who were just sacked.

I don't buy the dyslexia thing. I was all for Razor based on listening and observing him before he got the gig. He was inspiring, thought outside the box, spoke the language of success, was open to new ideas and trying things. Unfortunately the guy that turned up was not the same guy. Even the players who knew him said the same thing.



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M
MV 53 minutes ago
Bought not built: Rassie's importing has sacrificed the identity of Bok rugby

Ahh Ben Smith the eternal bok hater. And this is called sports journalism! When you have depleted your entire arsenal and the one thing left at the bottom you have been avoiding until now is this, then you truly have nothing else left. Really I wasted 5 mins of life I'll never get back!

76 Go to comments
P
PM 1 hour ago
Where's the power? And what to do with Sua'ali'i? The key questions facing the Wallabies

My only quibble would be with ‘crushing’. I’d go with final nail in the coffin. They weren’t really up enough to be crushed.

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P
PM 1 hour ago
Where's the power? And what to do with Sua'ali'i? The key questions facing the Wallabies

I'm not actually convinced Miles does provide that much power and grunt. Looks like he should though.

30 Go to comments
M
Mzilikazi 1 hour ago
Where's the power? And what to do with Sua'ali'i? The key questions facing the Wallabies

“He still has his sainthood from his time with Ireland”. He faded at the end in Ireland though, Conrad. Interestingly it was a key big lock in Devon toner he dropped for RWC Japan…..leopards and spots ??

“….obviously has an almighty ruthless streak in him.” I would agree. Friends in Ireland have commented on that, said was rumoured even Paul O’Connell feared him. Could be mean spirited too.



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P
PB 1 hour ago
There's only one selection that truly matters for the All Blacks this July

You don’t have a country!!

You don’t even know who you are!



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B
Bazzallina 1 hour ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

You want get leads of more than converted tries whether that’s 1 try or 2 or 3 so at 5-0 u might take that 3 to make 8-0 or at 20-10 teams most often think better going for that try because 23-10 you still vulnerable to 2 converted scores just better tactics around that awareness imo score lead building with 3s just don’t work that well the majority of the time just sometimes rarely like you kick 4 penalties miss 1 and the other team goes bang bang they got the lead some commentators just don’t get it still are dumbfounded when 3s aren’t taken

14 Go to comments
M
Mzilikazi 1 hour ago
Where's the power? And what to do with Sua'ali'i? The key questions facing the Wallabies

“I’d like to see Amotosero blooded,” Against Ireland though, PP. He is still only 24, only just too. he will probably be facing Ryan and McCarthy. He has shown good lineout ability, I will grant.

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B
Brett McKay 1 hour ago
Where's the power? And what to do with Sua'ali'i? The key questions facing the Wallabies

Cheers Mizz, you’ve gone into great detail as always.

For what it’s worth, I think the expectation is that if there is going to be a change of Captain, it would be for McReight..



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j
johnz 1 hour ago
There's only one selection that truly matters for the All Blacks this July

I don't know how you can call BS unless you were in my head. I can assure you you don't take up much real estate there.

Yes, both Razor & foz were poorly supported and handicapped in who they could recruit. Both had to answer to a CEO who's best skill was ruining relationships. There is a big improvement in the appointment & support structures now.



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j
johnz 1 hour ago
There's only one selection that truly matters for the All Blacks this July

LF is one of our best? I'm a big fan of LF, but if he is one of our best loosies we’re in more trouble than I thought.

Fear is everything JW. A man controlled by fear can't execute under pressure. That's what we got with Razor..



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J
JohnS 1 hour ago
Bought not built: Rassie's importing has sacrificed the identity of Bok rugby

In short Ben Smith says that hiring the best to help you build to be the best does not make you the best. So due to Ben Smith being a Kiwi he is also not the best to write about South African rugby.

76 Go to comments
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