The 2016 Olympic Games will feature rugby sevens for the first time, and I’ve already put together a wishlist of the the seven players I would like to see in Rio de Janeiro.
Sonny Bill Williams
Height, speed, power, skill, the best off-loader of the ball in both league and union – the things that Sonny Bill Williams could do playing sevens are scary.
Greg Inglis
Greg Inglis’s CV in rugby league is stellar – 177 NRL games for 112 tries, 21 State of Origin games for a record 15 tries, 28 Tests for Australia with 22 tries. Inglis stands 195cm and 106kg and has covered fullback, centre, wing and five-eighth.
Imagine his speed, size and skill in sevens rugby. The most impressive feature of Inglis’s game is his nimble hands – is there a bigger man with a more deft touch than Inglis in either code?
Ardie Savea
Ardie Savea has already played sevens for New Zealand and impressed, but the brother of All Blacks winger Julian Savea is only going to get better once he gets regular Super Rugby game time – something that will happen.
Ardie has great speed, is superb over the ball, can win lineout possession and has the all-round skills to play in the forwards or the backs.
Bryan Habana
The most complete winger in the game has won a World Cup, a Lions series, a Tri-Nations championship, three Super Rugby titles and scored a South African record 53 tries in 95 Tests.
Surely a crack at a sevens gold medal must be tempting for Habana? Habana has lost no pace and his combination of vision, intelligence, power and speed is a threat for any opposition.
On another note, imagine how many tries Habana would have scored if he was an All Black.
Since Habana made his debut for the Springboks in 2004 the All Blacks have scored 488 Test tries. The All Blacks have been served on the left wing by the likes of Julian Savea (19 tries), Sitiveni Sivivatu (29), Joe Rockoko (47), Richard Kahu (10) and Hose Gear (six).
Habana is a better winger than all of them.
Israel Folau
The most balanced runner in rugby just keeps on improving. He can step off both feet, has tremendous power and a growing intelligence for the game.
Yannick Nyanga Kabasele
The French back-row forward has played 37 Tests since 2004, but has only really hit his stride in recent seasons.
Dynamic with the ball in hand, Nyanga is the best-off-loading forward in the Six Nations and would be an ideal forward in the sevens game.
Courtney Laws
The English lock would be an ideal forward in sevens. At two metres tall he would win a lot of lineout and kick-off ball for a start, an increasingly important part of the game.
More importantly, he is abrasive in contact and explosive with the ball in hand. His speed for a big man is impressive and he can offload with both hands.
Who would you like to see playing sevens in the Rio Games? I’ll be updating this list intermittently as 2016 approaches.
Pete
Guest
Nah, he was often playing cricket in his younger years for Otago which would've clashed with the 7s season
atlas
Guest
Lists of players, but who'll be the new Australian Sevens coach? Next round of the World Series is in 3 weeks, 22-23 March in Tokyo. With Michael O'Connor's exit, any idea who they'll bring in as interim coach till along-term appointment is made?
Rugbyfan
Guest
lol is that a joke? do u realize the people who play sevens are usually the ones who couldn't crack the 15 man game. Your comment is so stupid, if you've ever played 7's in your life you'd know why. The only main difference between the two is the Aerobic and Anaerobic levels needed. BTW next time plz provide a constructive criticism.
Eddard
Roar Guru
Yeah except that 7's rugby union and 15's rugby union have almost exactly the same laws.
Common Sense
Guest
Wesley Fofana would be a game breaker.
Tuaman
Guest
Markus not sure if you've been watching the 7s circuit as much as i have over the last 7 years, but i can tell you there is only a very few exceptions from 15s who "just walked into a 7s' international side......but not one has set the 7s competition on fire. I disagree with you that all the best union players play 15s....they are very different versions of the game......but there are a lot more 7s players who go on to play 15s than the other way round! Further using the Wallabies (and how it introduced its best 15s players for Commonwealth) to support your argument isnt supported by facts as below of Wallabies placing in Commonwealth 7s: 1998 Third Place 3rd 2002 Quarterfinals 5th 2006 Semifinals 4th 2010 Runners-Up 2nd Hence only once since 1998 that Australia won a medal in Commonwealth for 7s despite loading its national team with so called "best 15 players". I dare say with the professionalism of 7s over the last 5-6 years that Australia's practice of bringing in unseasoned players for Olympics and Commonwealth will not yield the desired result of winning gold. Its been tried before 7s went professional and failed.
Timbuktu
Guest
Michael Hooper would suit the sevens game perfectly. It would suit his running, tackling and pilfering game perfectly, and he is probably one of the faster wallabies running around at the moment.
Wal
Roar Guru
Yeah for some reason I thought Goldie had played a fair bit of sevens but couldn't find any reference to it so must have been dreaming. One of those buggers who is good at everything so no doubt would have been a brilliant 7's player
atlas
Guest
Would that be the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne? where they brought in four Wallabies - Chris Latham, Scott Fava, Matt Giteau and Lote Tuqiri at the expense of established Sevens squad members. I wouldn't say 'beaten easily' they beat Sri Lanka, Cook Islands and SA (in q-f) then to the semifinals (lost 19-21 to eventual gold medal winners NZ). They'd all played Sevens before, so not a case of bringing in players new to the game. They finished 4th, losing the bronze playoff to Fiji 17-24
TembaVJ
Guest
Rugbyfan, though I do like a good "what if" session Canada (never mind Blitz bok or NZ 7's team) will run both these team off their feet. 7's is not union, 7's is further away from union then RL is.
TembaVJ
Guest
It certainly helped Tietjens get his name and team in the news paper by mentioning SBW. Anyone that watches 7's will tell you SBW is to big and slow to play 7's, he will have to completely change his fitness\cardio\build around in under a year... this all being at an age above 30. If he is in he will be bench again to draw the media hype and odds are he will walk away with a olympic medal to add to his other somewhat achieved glories.
Blueberry
Guest
I'd completely forgotten about Fickou actually, but he would tear it up. He's got the same attributes as Folau and would do very well. France's sevens team is rather under performing so he might be what they'll want come 2016.
deanp
Guest
according to that link they were required to be permanent residents, not necessarily citizens. Which is more stringent than the irb regulations, which allowed Sivivatu to play for the ABs while on a working visa.
atlas
Guest
'global search' Is Robbie Deans till in Sydney????
atlas
Guest
'certain All Blacks'. Tietjens has already named them - two, possibly three. He said only Ardie Savea, Frank Halai, and possibly Cory Jane. All of whom have previously played for his Sevens teams. There are numerous other ex NZ Sevens players in current AB squad, incl Beauden Barrett, Julian Savea, Charles Piutau, Israel Dagg, Ben Smith, Liam Messam. There were no All Blacks in the winning 2013 World Cup Sevens squad. The 2012-13 Go4Gold national talent/recruitment program run throughout NZ's regions was aimed at athletes - not rugby players - who could adapt to professional sevens rugby. __________ I see Australian Sevens coach Michael O'Connor quit with immediate effect this week, announced 25 February. "The ARU will commence its global search for a replacement for O’Connor immediately with the remit of ensuring the Men’s Sevens team qualifies for the Olympics with the goal of winning gold. "
Markus
Guest
The NZ Sevens team may indeed be the exception nowadays. However I don't doubt for a second that they would still jump at the opportunity to sign certain All Blacks up to the Sevens team permanently if it presented itself. As you've already pointed out, Tietjens has SBW at the top of that wish list. As far as I'm aware the Blitzbokke have similar Sevens-specific contracts too, but even so many of their regulars such as Phillip Snyman, Stephan Dippenaar and Cornal Hendriks are all guys who struggled to break into Super Rugby before focusing on Sevens full time. Being on a Sevens-specific contract doesn't in any way confirm that a player was the best talent, just the best talent available.
atlas
Guest
is there an All Black in recent times who has 'walked into' the NZ Sevens - without having been a Sevens player first/before being an AB? Names? Your 'fact is' would not apply to current NZ Sevens where many players do not play any XVs, they are on separate contracts, Sevens-specific.
atlas
Guest
you mention, but don't include, Jeff Wilson. Often thought he'd have made it at international sevens level.
atlas
Guest
Your Aussie team - check on citizenship, ie ineligible for CG/Olympics Maybe they do have it now (though Cooper certainly doesn't), but I see five there I'd query. Residency for IRB is different to eligibility at CG/O level
atlas
Guest
not to say Cooper/Speight do not have time to get citizenship/passports The cricketer was processed quickly last year, so it can be done 'in the national interest'