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At the end of the first day of the Wellington Sevens, the ARU issued a media release that was, in retrospect, somewhat overly optimistic about the play of the Australian Sevens Thunderbolts and their chances of going deep into the tournament.
The release noted that the Thunderbolts had won their three pool round matches, beating Portugal 19-12, Canada 26-22 and Kenya 17-12.
The interim head coach, Scott Bowen, said: “I think overall we did well and improved from game to game… Our contact area improved in the second game.”
He went on to praise several of the younger members of the squad: “Henry Hutchison and Stephan Ver Walt had some great touches… Greg Jeloudev has been a consistent member of the team for the last couple of years… he did a very good job today.”
The contact area definitely needed improving after the Portugal game, as did the Thunderbolts’ defensive game. Portugal put on two tries in the opening minutes, the first from the kick-off.
The youngsters, Hutchison and Tom Lucas (a member of the indomitable Lucas brotherhood), restored some order to the scoreboard after half-time and the victory was finally secured.
But conceding 12 points against Portugal, 22 against Canada and 12 against Kenya suggested that the Thunderbolts needed to stiffen up their defensive patterns.
But, aside from a leaky defence, other elements (real individual speed, team organisation and a pattern of play that challenged the best defences) were lacking in the Thunderbolts on that first day and carried through to Sunday’s play.
The Aussies had a lack of real speed, “gas” as some coaches describe it, throughout the side. Players were built on the chunky side and ran aggressively. But where were the speedsters? Not even Tom Kingston showed the sort of pace exhibited by, say, Rosko Specman, the dazzling speedster from South Africa.
To be fair, perhaps, Ed Jenkins, the captain of the Thuderbolts and according to some accounts the fastest man in the side, was being rested for next weekend’s Sydney Sevens.
So, too, was another important starting player, Cameron Clark, the son of the excellent rugby match-caller Greg Clark.
The Sunday Telegraph had an interesting article on Jenkins, pointing out that he can run 2 kilometres in six minutes and 40 seconds, and the 40 metre in under five seconds. This is an impressive combination of aerobic endurance and speed. But with a ball under his arm, Jenkins is no Carlin Isles or Perry Baker, the two USA speedsters.
I am going to create something controversial here (sorry about that), but I was unimpressed with veteran James Stannard. It isn’t possible for the Thunderbolts to be Olympic medal winners at Rio if Stannard is kept as the playmaker.
Stannard is weak in defence, provides comparatively little on attack, as he hardly ever takes on the line, and has a limited passing game.
There is no spark, no genius to his game. In making this point, I was taken with a comment made by Sir Gordon Tietjens after the exhilarating final, which was saved for the New Zealand Sevens by relatively unknown bench player Regan Ware.
Ware came on when New Zealand needed a try to defeat South Africa, with time running out, and made a smashing tackle to stop a try. Then from the scrum near the New Zealand line, Ware made a break out that created the field position for his side to push on for the winning try.
Tietjens was asked about these plays and told the television questioner, “I’ve always said that every sevens rugby player needs to have an x-factor about facets of his play.”
The problem with Stannard is that there is at his best only a small x-factor about his play.
If this sounds harsh, compare his games in Wellington with that, say, of Augustin Pulu of the All Black sevens team.
Even though he has had limited exposure to sevens rugby, Pulu was dynamic in everything he did, passing, running and defending.
Hopefully Quade Cooper can make the journey from Toulon for Sydney to play for the Thunderbolts next weekend. And, hopefully again, he can add some spark to the Thunderbolts with an imaginative, dynamic passing game.
I would be inclined to play Henry Hutchinson as a partner to Cooper (presuming he is playing) in the hope that the youngster’s enthusiasm will inspire Cooper to add the flair and adventure to what is, currently, a ponderous Thunderbolts game plan.
This gets me to my third point about the Thunderbolts. They did not show a game plan that was coherent, that was built around the talents of the players as a group, and which was different and challenging enough to make a strong side like South Africa, say, have difficulty coping with it.
I would hope that new permanent coach Andy Friend has used his time since his appointment to work out systems on defence and attack that will give the Thunderbolts an edge. Right now they are essentially a journeyman team playing without imagination or flair.
This is not the Australian way of playing sevens. Or what was the Australian way in decades past.
It is hard to believe right now that when the sevens game had its beginning in this part of the world, in Hong Kong, Australian sides were the innovators, playing brilliantly even on muddy fields.
When you played against the Ellas, David Campese, Simon Poidevin, Nick Farr-Jones and George Gregan, the opposition had to defeat their mind games as well as their play on the field.
As a contrast to the Thunderbolts, the two finalists, South Africa and New Zealand, both offered coherent, well-constructed game plans. The plans were different but they matched the personnel in both sides.
I was extremely impressed with the South African side. They entirely overwhelmed tournament favourites Fiji in the semi-final with their cluster defence, their terrific speed and their willingness to chase everything.
And with their clever strategy. Their kick and chase game, when Fiji had their sweeper in the line, was brilliantly conceived and executed. It added a new dimension to sevens rugby. But it worked because the South Africans were judicious when the tactic was used.
It was the brilliant use of tactics like these that distinguished the South Africans from the Thunderbolts. Friend needs to deliver plans and tactics that lift his team from the also-rans situation they have been in for some years.
As one of the commentators pointed out, other sides will be taking notes on how the South Africans blitzed the Fijians. They did not allow them any possession, and swarmed them on the occasional times the Fijians had the ball. But, of course, knowing what to do and actually doing it are two different matters.
Furthermore, the Fijians reacted badly to being out-thought by the South Africans. They gave away two yellow cards, and were frustrated that they could not make breaks at will, as they had in all their earlier matches.
It is at least possible that the South Africans have exposed the Fijians as flat-track bullies. Mark Ryan, the coach of the Fiji sevens side, has his work cut out to prepare his players mentally and physically for Sydney, after the thrashing handed out to his side by the rampant South Africans.
The South African side is markedly smaller and quicker than the All Black sevens side. Legendary New Zealand coach Tietjens noted before the tournament, “We’ve got a big team and we certainly want to utilise that advantage. The real challenge is the fitness levels. We’re a little bit behind, to be fair.”
The final between South Africa and New Zealand was a contest between flair and speed and size and power.
For most of the final, it looked as if flair and speed were going to win out.
The scoreline tells the story: South Africa 7-0, South Africa 14-0, South Africa 14-7, halftime, South Africa 21-12, South Africa 21-19, New Zealand 24-21.
The speed and finesse of the South African game was too much for New Zealand to hold, as it was for Fiji.
But the relentless power of New Zealand took its toll. South Africa conceded a yellow card and the All Blacks got two scores to bring the side within striking distance of victory.
Then came the final try and a memorable finish for the crowd and vast TV audience around the world.
A couple of final points. The Sonny Bill Williams experiment is still very much a work in progress. He made a terrible mistake in the first New Zealand vs South Africa match, also snatched from the visitors after time was up. He redeemed the mistake with an offload that set up the winning try.
But as a starter in the final, he made another mistake with a failed offload that allowed South Africa to score their third try. This time though, there was time to hook him and bring on the youngster Ware, who made the brilliant, match-winning plays expected but not delivered by SBW.
Williams looked off the pace and lacking the aerobic fitness required of sevens players.
I have often criticised South African rugby for its negative, boring tendencies. No such criticism can be levelled at the South African sevens side. They were terrific in every respect, including their gracious acceptance of a tough defeat.
They are the team, despite the two close defeats by New Zealand, setting the pace this year in the rush to Rio. I will be most surprised if they don’t win a medal at the Games.
One other point. If we get the play we saw at Wellington, rugby sevens is going to be the breakout sport at the Rio Olympics.
Now on to Sydney and, hopefully, an energised Australian side playing with the flair and panache of past generations.