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How does Jarryd Hayne slot into the world sevens champion side?

21st May, 2016
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Jarryd Hayne pictured after signing for the 49ers. (AAP Image/Nikki Short)
Expert
21st May, 2016
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Fiji retained their coveted World Sevens champion crown with new recruit Jarryd Haynes on duty for a sum total of eight minutes and 12 seconds in three games.

He had four-and-a-half minutes in the shock 31-10 loss to England in the first Pool game, three-and-a-half minutes in the 42-5 romp over Wales, and just the last 12 seconds of the 26-0 win over Australia that clinched Fiji the world crown by qualifying for the quarters.

Hardly a fair crack at being on the plane for Rio.

These were the words of Fiji coach Ben Ryan:

“Jarryd comes from a different angle, he has a great background in rugby league and another professional sport (NFL) at the highest level.

“In attack he is comfortable on the ball, he has good special awareness and has good footwork.

“In defence, he is a good tackler with breakdown skills, the finer arts, but he hasn’t the same fitness levels as our boys have got, and in spite of that he’s had a good week with us.

“That’s why we are moderating what he’s doing, he was pretty sore on Friday after consecutive training runs in what was a light week for us.

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“I’d be an idiot of a coach if having eight minutes in the World Series I can still make an assumption of where he can go.

“When we go into Olympic camp there’s no hiding place, we don’t pick on faces, we pick on form, and he has seven weeks to prove himself.

“If he gets into our side because of form then he’s done remarkably well and if he doesn’t, it just goes to show the quality we’ve got.”

So there it is – crystal clear – Jarryd Hayne is not on the Rio plane, but the door is still open.

So even though Fiji’s retained the world crown and are gold medal favourites for Rio, Ryan has to spackle over the worrying cracks emerging.

Fiji led Samoa 21-0 midway through the Paris Sevens final, and went into the break 26-7. Usually that’s shut the gate time, but for some inexplicable reason Fiji shut up shop instead, allowing Samoa to power home with 22 unanswered points to win 29-27.

In the very next game in London, Fiji was swamped by England 31-10, and Samoa lost all three Pool games to South Africa, USA, and Canada – go figure.

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So the quarter-finalists in London are:

England vs Scotland.
New Zealand vs USA.
France vs Fiji.
South Africa vs Argentina.

And the secondary quarter-finalists:

Australia vs Portugal.
Russia vs Samoa
Kenya vs Wales.
Canada vs Brazil.

Now the interesting question will be how Ryan uses Hayne in the big ones that count. France shouldn’t be a problem, so perhaps Hayne will get more game time.

A match-up with South Africa in the final with the long-haired lightning speedster Seabelo Senatla weaving his magic in a serious possibility.

So far in this 10-tournament series, Senatla has scored a record 65 tries to top the point-scorers with 325.

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Senatla vs Hayne could be a tournament highlight.

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