NZ end sevens series with London triumph

Yes, they really should move the glasgow leg to somewhere people, esp uk fans, would want to go for a long weekend of rugby and fun, like paris or Southern Europe. I guess one reason teams are not so motivated when they play in the Glasgow and London legs is that the series is usually decided by then! Testament to how solid and consistent the kiwis are. still, having hk as final leg motivates everyone. It is a special sevens venue and raises everyone's game.

I've been to Welligton a few times, Hong Kong last year and London last week. I think the only team that performs better at HK than elsewhere is Fiji, possibly due to the history. The London crowd was good, but the stadium doesn't lend itself to the same festival atmosphere as Wellington or HK as it's harder to get around. Hosting the finals on a Sunday also put's many people off, as you have work the next day and losing an entire weekend is annoying. I don't know why they don't try to shift the London Seves to coincide with one of the May bank holiday weekends in London. That way they could make a bigger spectable off it and finally get a decent Day 2 crowd. I also wonder is there is a plan to move one of the tournaments to continental Europe soon? Glasgow's crowd isn't the largest and there are plenty of other European teams coming up in the game (Spand, Portugal, Russia). Maybe the 7's WC this year is a litmus test?

And still the IRB doesn't want to move the finale to HK, which guarantees full house and a ripping atmosphere and where teams genuinely want to win rather than indulge in sightseeing, as most teams obviously do n London.

isnt this SA's major problem (as well as in 15's)? when they play NZ they lift big time then fall asleep against every other side? if SA teams could maintain the level they play vs NZ sides they be a far better side.

Atlas, the thing with those 7's salaries is that it's paid by the NZRU out of the money made by the XV's teams (All Blacks and Super Rugby). So if it were a stand alone entity, then the NZRU wouldn't be able to justify even that money. They need to find a way to make it into a more competitive financial model, otherwise it'll continue to be ITM Cup level players on the Sevens circuit and tournaments in each country only once a year at best. I think there is a way to turn Sevens into a summer sport, but it'd have to be as a Grand Prix type event.

Great team - thanks for that - and would be interesting to see a match-up of those sides. One player from quite a few years back now - Otago's Jeff Wilson was one that I always thought would have excelled at sevens. You mentioned money - the current rates (under negotiation for renewal/increase) for NZ Sevens players for 2010-12 are as follows - NZ dollars of course, wonder how this compares to other countries. It is probably far higher than many of the teams they play. Tier 1: Players who have played less than 4 IRB Sevens World Series Tournaments at the commencement of that Contract Year - $25,000 Tier 2: Players who have played 4 or more I..... - $35,000 Tier 3: Elite Sevens player (as determined by the NZRU) of which there must be at least 3 - $45,000 plus The tournament fees for each player are $2,000 per Sevens tournament. source: http://www.nzrpa.co.nz/media/documents/Collective_Agreement_Overview_2010-2012.pdf Nine tournaments, so up top a maximum NZ63k, AUD$52k a year. Some also have part-time jobs, and if playing for ITM teams that's another NZ$15-35k In terms of global/professional sport - and to what a Super player can earn, they certainly are the budget side of rugby.

Ha, pretty much.

thats different. This is when a team is winning and scoring tries and the booing is throughout the stadium, not just small sections of the crowd.

In rugby? You see it a lot. They even ring cow bells at some places when the kicker is taking kick

You mean NZ were just as crap now as a hundred years ago? I agree

great win by the NZ 7s team but the wide spread booing in the crowd in particular towards nz and Australia was a disgrace. When England were knocked out by Australia, the English fans (prob. 90% of the capacity crowd) left the stadium straight away. There was barely anyone around watching the final. You wouldn't see that in other tournaments.

The problem with Sevens is that it doesn't really pay it's own way in comparison to XV's. There is no proven business model for a sustainable local domestic competition. Instead you have a global tour whereby the only reason most players are paid is because they're subsidised by the national Union (England, NZ, Aus, RSA etc) or through government funding (USA). Until they can find a way to make it a full time job that pays as well as XV's then you'll see the best athletes in XV's rather than 7's. I'd have no doubt that players taken from the All Blacks would beat the NZ sevens team. This is based partly on the fact that the previous superstars of the All Blacks Sevens have gone on to be XV's stars. Heck, you only have to look at the 38 man training squad named today to see a stack of ex 7's players, both capped and uncapped at XV's for NZ. Imagine a 7's team of: Prop - Hosea Gear vs Tim Mikkelson Hooker - Liam Messam vs DJ Forbes Prop - Victor Vito vs Lote Raikabula Half - Aaron Cruden vs Tomasi Cama Half - Charles Piutau vs Gillies Kaka Centre - Israel Dagg vs Kurt Baker Wing - Julian Savea vs Sherwin Stowers Not counting guys like Frank Halai, Rene Ranger, Ben Smith, TJ Perenara, Aaron Smith, Beauden Barrett and Keiran Read who'd also dominate on the IRB circuit. Of that team named above only Cruden hasn't shone on the IRB circuit before but would be a great playmaker to pull the strings.

England will be pretty disappointed with their finish after winning the Wellington Sevens. South Africa will be pretty disappointed that they didn't threaten more after some good results this year and last. Teams that did well this year - Fiji, Australia, Portugal, Kenya, Spain....and USA. It is becoming a global game...

should have clarified - I was asking re Sevens as a major sport - what do you think? I see it as becoming more of a stand-alone sport separate to XVs. we already have specialist players who play one or the other. And one for the panel - would the best Sevens side from any of the top nations be beaten at Sevens by their home country's test players (only seven of them though, 15 wouldn't be fair)?

Zimbabwe is improving and Georgia should step up. Haven't seen much of Uganda since the Melbourne Comm Games. They played some good Rugby there. Russia got better as the season progressed. Hopefully they will play in the European legs and Hong Kong. The IRB should look at expanding the Dubai event to add more teams. They get the attendances and at least the teams that miss out on the full time spot will get good practice. The IRFU are finally waking up to 7s by introducing club events. The Irish womens team is strong enough at 7s and they won the Six Nations Grand Slam.

Wata dik

Who said anything about America? Cricket is barely a blip on the radar in those countries, other than NZ where it was played 100 years ago anyway. It's simply hugely lucky that it was introduced to the second most populous country in the world by the British Empire Fair play, there's no need to be global with India's millions pumping money into the game, but it's barely developed in the last 100 years. Sri Lanka & Bangladesh are the only new(ish) test nations and they've been playing for ages anyway. Compare that to Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Romania, Canada, Italy, Georgia, Japan or even Argentina. I'm not saying Rugby is some truly international sport, but compared to Cricket, it's significantly more global.

A Welsh rugby fan cut off his own testicles to celebrate Wales beating world champions England at rugby in Cardiff for the first time in 12 years. True story....

Cicket do not need America and it got India. And teams like Afghanistan is playing cricket. Holland, Scotland, Ireland, Afghanistan, Kenya, NZ...... all have beaten bigger nations and have come up in the world of cricket

You certainly have to feel sorry for teams like Russia, who lost 10-5 in the 3rd place qualifier. It shows just how close the margin are for those teams outside the Top 15. Scotland were also beaten by Hong Kong in the Qualifier pool play, as was Spain by Tonga. So realistically you have at least 20 nations who would compete well on the HSBC tour if given the chance.