Might be avoidable you know. We are a LONG way from getting rugby back here IMHO. Likely not this year. Means lots of exposure / tv right etc to NZ which will raise some cash.

@Rapido said in 2020 Olympic Sevens (Tokyo): I wonder of the highest paid rugby player in the world is prepared to take a weekend off in November for the Oceania qualifying to exploit the Olympic loophole to become Tonga eligible for the rest of his career. My guess is not. I hope that the discussion of that topic can again take place in the eligibility thread and not in this thread about the Olympic sevens.

Am a little concerned about the resultant income for contracted staff and players. Or lack thereof.

Sevens results of the finals: Women's U18 GOLD New Zealand SILVER France BRONZE Canada (after beating Colombia 24 - 19) Men's U18 GOLD Argentina (after beating France 24 - 14) SILVER France BRONZE Japan (after beating South Africa 28 - 5)

+673 points differential!

Interesting listening to DJ Forbes on the radio yesterday highlighting the main differences between Laidlaw and Titchs approach to coaching...one was an open inclusive one, the other more dictatorial.

@antipodean Yes, I saw this on my twitter feed: https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/englishman-sues-nine-network-over-use-of-term-coward-punch-20190317-p514ww.html

Condor Sevens The dates for the Condor Sevens have been announced: Thu 10 - Fri 11 December 2020: Open boys & girls (seniors) Sat 12 - Sun 13 December 2020: U15 boys & girls (juniors) Normally, the seniors would play on the weekend and the juniors on Thursday and Friday, but because - due to Covid-19 - several tournaments had to be squeezed into one weekend (because of changed NCEA examination dates), they have swapped the dates for the seniors and juniors, to allow students to play at multiple events. http://www.nzsssc.co.nz/newsarticle/92047

@arhs said in 2017-18 World Sevens Series: I wasn't greatly impressed at a lot of the men's play in this tournament. Some opponents seemed a lot weaker than in previous rounds, and we did not capitalise enough. Rokosiloa looked quite useful when he appeared in last match. Nareki and Rayasi did show plenty of improvement in speed of thought. But, I don't know why Mikkelsen was left on the bench so much. Without him out there we just seemed to be in cover mode and starved of possession - and we lacked wide vision when we did have the ball. His aggressive tackling and long passing is really needed. Don't think Baker works as a halfback. Ravouvou looked quite sluggish until the end, and Dickson was not at his best. I can only suppose the plan was to expose the second-tier players to more responsibility in all areas in preparation for World Cup. I just hope we use our best 7 from the outset then, because I don't see us threatening the better teams with our less-experienced second-stringers. They have to, because - different from the World Series - the World Cup is a knock-out tournament right from the start.

If Liam Barry was the first-choice for assistant coach that is an underwhelming appointment.

@stargazer said in Wellington Sevens becomes Hamilton Sevens (2018-2019): @crucial Uhm, did you read the article that I posted earlier? Yeah, but it was all Tew trying to say nothing while in commercial discussions. I would still guess that a plan was put forward to WR and they have agreed to proceed on the hope that the plan can be worked out commercially.

Taranaki Rugby is to establish the country’s first dedicated sevens academy as it looks to strengthen the game in the region and New Zealand. Media release: http://trfu.co.nz/news/news/taranaki-rugby-to-set-up-national-sevens-academy/

As an aside, a lot of discussion has taken place over the last few years about the branding of the men's sevens team as the "All Blacks Sevens" team. At the time the decision to give them and the NZ Maori team the name "All Blacks" was taken, there was no mention at all about what would happen to the women's teams. I interpreted that as a sign that they didn't see the women's teams as teams that they considered useful for their marketing of the brand "All Blacks" but also that they didn't consider "Black Ferns" as a brand to be marketed. Things seem to have changed. The "Black Ferns" seem to be becoming a brand of its own, as in the last few articles (basically since Rio), the NZR publications are referring to the women's sevens team as the "Black Ferns Sevens" (they didn't do that before Rio). Whatever you think of extending the XV's names - as brand names - to other teams (I'm not posting this to re-open that discussion), I think it's a good thing that they're now also looking at the women's teams and that they are apparently considered as something that's "brand worthy" (even if not to the same degree as the ABs). I can only assume this has something to do with the women's silver success at the Olympics and the upcoming Women's Rugby World Cup in 2017.

Winners!

Thanks DJ