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‘We’re not stressing’: Sam Dickson explains All Blacks Sevens’ woes in Perth
Drawn in the pool of death for SVNS Perth, the All Blacks Sevens were always going to have their work cut out for them under the scorching Australian sun. But their early exit was still a shock.
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New Zealand, who are the defending world champions after taking out the overall series title last season, were beaten by France and Fiji in pool play. Their only win was a golden point thriller against Samoa, with veteran Regan Ware scoring a last-minute winner.
Those results saw the All Blacks Sevens fail to make the Cup quarter-finals. Instead, the traditional sevens heavyweights were left to battle it out for ninth place.
Fehi Fineanganofo scored a double, including a last-minute match-winner as the New Zealanders survived a Canadian scare in the playoff semi-final to win 26-21.
With one more game to play on Australia’s west coast, the New Zealanders returned to HBF Park to play Samoa on Sunday morning. It was another close one.
Legendary SVNS star Tim Mikkelson was the hero with a 15th-minute try which saw the men in black beat Samoa 21-14. New Zealand had to work hard to finish ninth.
“Samoa is a very fit, physical team and Brian Lima has trained them very well,” Sam Dickson, who returned from injury in time for SVNS Perth, told RugbyPass on Sunday.
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“For Timmy to finish off at the end, that’s why we brought him off the bench is his x-factor out wide with his speed. To finish off like that was just great.
“It was a pleasing finish to the tournament even though we didn’t get the result we wanted.”
The top of the SVNS Series feels like a long way away for the New Zealanders now. After losing their semi-final in Dubai, they were fortunate to make the SVNS Cape Town quarter-finals a week later after finishing third in their pool.
With last season’s World Player of the Year nominees Akuila Rokolisoa and Leroy Carter still among their ranks, as well as the likes of Mikkelson and Dickson, this team boasts plenty of experience, skill and a strong reputation.
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But the All Blacks Sevens are a long way off the mark.
New Zealand have plenty of ground to make up ahead of the SVNS Vancouver and SVNS Los Angeles in about one months’ time.
“It’s probably the amount of rugby that we’ve played,” Dickson explained.
“We had a real disjointed off-season with more than half of our squad playing NPC and we didn’t really have a proper pre-season. We trying to play a little bit of catchup in that case.
“Credit to the other teams, they’re playing outstanding this year and you could see the whole level has raised so much. One to 12 could win the tournament.
A masterclass from @lospumas ✨#HSBCSVNS | #HSBCSVNSPER https://t.co/EOzXqqXif0 pic.twitter.com/yKf6qrIh20
— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) January 28, 2024
“Samoa were unlucky not to go through. They just got pipped by us and Fiji so it just shows how good they are they’re going to finish (eleventh). Just shows how tight it is.
“We’re slowly building towards the Olympics, the Olympics is our main goal. We’ve got a lot of boys returning from long-term injury that’s going to really reinforce our team and bring a lot of energy and fire.
“We’re not stressing. We know what we’re doing and we’ve got a plan in place.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
16 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
16 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
84 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
2 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
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