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NZ made to work 'really hard' for thrilling quarterfinal win
By Finn Morton
New Zealand are through to the semi-finals of the Sydney Sevens are a thrilling 12-0 win over rivals Samoa in the first men’s quarterfinal on Saturday.
The All Blacks Sevens were incredible during their first two games of the event, albeit against less fancied opposition.
After opening their Sydney Sevens campaign with an emphatic 45-7 win over Uruguay, the men in black backed that result with a convincing 33-nil win over Kenya.
That match set up a titanic tussle against fierce rivals South Africa, and that match couldn’t have been any more dramatic.
South Africa recorded victory in Sydney – and ultimately topped Pool B – after kicking a penalty goal in the kicking stages to win by three points.
New Zealand then faced an intriguing matchup against Samoa, if they wanted to keep their Cup Final dreams alive heading into Day Three.
This match was by no means easy; Samoa have been one of the form teams of the World Series this season, and they showed Sydney why that is once more on Saturday evening.
The All Blacks Sevens opened the scoring through Roderick Solo, but had to wait until the final minute of the match to score again.
But as the adage goes, defence wins championships.
After walking off the field alongside some of his New Zealand teammates, sevens veteran Dylan Collier reflected on the “real close game.”
“It was a real close game all the way through and we just closed it out at the end there,” Collier told RugbyPass.
“Full credit to Samoa, they’ve been on fire all weekend. They’ve been probably one of the form teams.
“We made it a bit hard for ourselves in the game before having to come up against them, but just really pleased to get the win, we worked really hard and managed to come out on top.”
New Zealand star Joe Webber was clearly disappointed following the loss to South Africa, but appeared confident that the team could bounce back in the quarterfinals.
And that’s exactly what they did.
The result seemed to teach the World Series leaders a thing or two, before entering the fray of sudden death rugby once again.
“To be honest in that game against South Africa we didn’t play our best. We blew a lot (of opportunities), he added.
“We just knew we had to be a bit more clinical and execute our plays.
“In finals footy you’ve just got to take your opportunities when you can. As you saw in that game there were only two tries scored so we just had to take them when we could.”
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Latest Comments
No he's just limited in what he can do. Like Scott Robertson. And Eddie Jones.
Sometimes it doesn't work out so you have to go looking for another national coach who supports his country and believes in what he is doing. Like NZ replacing Ian Foster. And South Africa bringing Erasmus back in to over see Neinbar.
This is the real world. Not the fantasy oh you don't need passion for your country for international rugby. Ask a kiwi, or a south african or a frenchman.
Go to commentsDont complain too much or start jumping to conclusions.
Here in NZ commentators have been blabbing that our bottom pathway competition the NPC (provincial teams only like Taranaki, Wellington etc)is not fit for purpose ie supplying players to Super rugby level then they started blabbing that our Super Rugby comp (combined provincial unions making up, Crusaders, Hurricanes, etc) wasn't good enough without the South African teams and for the style SA and the northern powers play at test level.
Here is what I reckon, Our comps are good enough for how WE want to play rugby not how Ireland, SA, England etc play. Our comps are high tempo, more rucks, mauls, running plays, kicks in play, returns, in a game than most YES alot of repetition but that builds attacking skillsets and mindsets. I don't want to see world teams all play the same they all have their own identity and style as do England (we were scared with all this kind of talk when they came here) World powerhouse for a reason, losses this year have been by the tiniest of margins and could have gone either way in alot of games. Built around forward power and blitz defence they have got a great attack Wingers are chosen for their Xfactor now not can they chase up and unders all day. Stick to your guns its not far off
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