1
Recap: Sydney Sevens Day Two blog
By Finn Morton
After a thrilling opening day at Allianz Stadium, the Sydney Sevens is set to continue with more scintillating rugby fun over the next 12 hours.
Rugby fans have witnessed a thrilling opening day here in Sydney, as some of the world’s best players went head-to-head in the pursuit of glory.
In sevens, everything can change in a nanosecond – and that was proven to be the case in several thrilling games on Friday.
The match of the day was arguably a titanic clash between Canada and Hamilton Sevens Men's champions Argentina.
Los Pumas were trailing 5-12 at the half-time break, but rallied in the dying stages with a couple of tries - including one after the break - to win by five.
Home crowd favourites Australia were among the standouts in both the men's and women's competitions, as they recorded an undefeated opening day on their home track.
Led by try-scoring machine Maddison Levi, the women's team finished Day One with an emphatic 46-0 win over Spain. Levi, who now sits atop of the World Series try scoring standings, added another four tries to her season tally in that match.
But it didn't all go to plan for the men.
While they only played once, and won that clash against Great Britain, they wasted a few try scoring opportunities during the first-half.
Head Coach John Manenti was far from pleased with the 12-7 victory, telling reporters after the match that a performance like that isn't "going to win us too many games."
"I think we turned (the ball) over four times in the first half in possession, and I think three of them probably should've been tries," Manenti said.
"We should've iced the game by half-time.
"They know that, they know that. I know they'll be feeling very emotional around playing here today and being a little bit excited and wanting to really do well.
"That'll be good to get that out of the system."
With the business end of the tournament now nigh on the horizon, team will be eager to get more wins on the board as they continue to dream big.
RugbyPass is here at Allianz Stadium, and will keep updated on all the latest action throughout Day Two of the Sydney Sevens.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
South Africa player ratings | 2024 Autumn Nations Series
3
Scotland's Sione Tuipulotu admits anger at Australian rugby
4
Fissler Confidential: Willie le Roux rumours ignite after Bok star spo
5
Latest Comments
There is this thing going around against Siya Kolisi where they don't want him to be known as the best national captain ever, so they strike him down in ratings permanently whenever they can. They want McCaw and reckons he is the best captain ever. I disagree.
Just like they refuse to see SA as the best team and some have even said that should the Boks win a third WC in a row, they will still not be the best team ever. Even if they win every game between now and the WC. That is some serious hate coming SA's way.
Everyone forget how the McCaw AB's intimidated refs, was always on the wrong side, played on the ground etc. Things they would never have gotten away with today. They may have a better win ratio, but SA build depth, not caring about rank inbetween WC's until this year.
They weren't as bad inbetween as people claim, because non e of their losses was big ones and they almost never faced the strongest Bok team outside of the WC, allowing countries like France and Ireland to rise to the top unopposed.
Rassie is still at it, building more depth, getting more young stars into the fold. By the time he leaves (I hope never) he will leave a very strong Bok side for the next 15- 20 years. Not everyone will play for 20 years, but each year Rassie acknowledge the young stars and get them involved and ready for international rugby.
Not everyone will make it to the WC, but those 51/52 players will compete for those spots for the WC. They will deliver their best. The future of the Boks is in very safe hands. The only thing that bothers me is Rassie's health. If he can overcome it, rugby looks dark for the rest of the rugby world. He is already the greatest coach in WR history. By the time he retires, he will be the biggest legend any sport has ever seen
Go to commentsWas it? I just brought it up in some of my posts to rub it in that the AB last year nearly put 100 on a top 6N side lol
I agree to be honest. The biggest key to me that they might be jadded was none of them had mom performances, or even as good as their last three games.
Go to comments