Preview: IRB Sevens, Adelaide
Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:10
Top guns: The captains for the Adelaide Sevens line up
There's not much in the Game of Sevens that New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens has not won.
Eight of the 10 World Series titles have gone his way, as well as a World Cup Sevens crown in 2001 and all three Commonwealth Games gold medals that have been contested to date - in 1998, 2002 and 2006.
In fact, in the current Sevens calendar the only tournament that has so far eluded him has been the International Sevens in Adelaide.
All seven of the other stops on the World tour have at some stage climaxed with a Kiwi victory haka, but so far only Fiji and South Africa have tasted victory here, a little statistic Tietjens is keen to remedy.
"We were talking about it, we've been in the final and were beaten by South Africa and beaten last year in the quarterfinal by South Africa - so it hasn't been a happy hunting ground for us," he said.
"We've won in Australia before, but not in Adelaide, so it would be great. For some of the players it's new and there's also excitement about playing at the Adelaide Oval with all the history in cricket that it has.
"Hopefully we take it a game at a time, play six finals and get the Adelaide title."
Tietjens cites Australia as very credible title contenders on home soil, but believes that the principle challenge comes from the United States Sevens champions, Samoa.
"We've been in three of the four Cup finals so far this year and in the one we lost we were comprehensively beaten by Samoa, who I thought played very well.
"They're the form team but we've lost three tries to [Mikaele] Pesamino through intercepts and a couple of loose passes or missed tackles can cost you in Sevens, especially 14-pointers in a final."
Although the New Zealanders currently sit pretty in the World Series standings, their 14-point lead over Samoa owes much to their two Cup victories before Christmas.
Since then, the men in black have looked far more fallible, vulnerable even, and the loss of key speed man Sherwin Stowers is a bitter blow.
"Sherwin's huge because he's got that massive ingredient of pace and you can't replace that. He's also a strong defender and strong in contact. He's going to be ready for Hong Kong.
"It's good for us here in a way to give an opportunity on the wing to another couple of players, because if Sherwin was out for a longer period then we'd have to find someone to fill that spot. It's quite competitive at the moment in the squad."
Tietjens also believes that New Zealand's pool is arguably the toughest of the four. Scotland lie in wait on Friday evening and there are further testers against Tonga and Argentina on day two.
"It's a tough draw with those teams and even going through to the quarter finals it's going to be either South Africa or Samoa, so it doesn't get any easier."
It is eight years since Australia last won a Cup title on the IRB Sevens World Series, in Brisbane in 2002, but there is no doubt that they enter their home Adelaide leg of the world tour as one of the form teams.
Last month at the US Sevens in Las Vegas the young Wallabies lost narrowly in the semifinals to eventual champions Samoa and have gelled into a tight unit under coach Michael O'Connor.
Clinton Sills' absence through injury is tough on the side, but O'Connor believes his youngsters are capable of handling the unique demands of a home event.
"I think pressure's a really good thing for these boys and coming off a pretty good result in Las Vegas we're really looking forward to this one," he said.
"You talk to any of the teams who play in a home tournament and there's something special about playing in your own country. You ask the kiwis and they'll tell you that it's nice to play in front of your home crowd."
While Australia can rightly expect the lion's share of the support at the Adelaide Oval, Kenya's travelling fans could almost challenge the locals for numbers.
If reports are to be believed, as many as 5,000 could make the trip to the Sevens here and, depending on how the two sides fare in their pool games, it is possible for them to meet in the Cup quarterfinals.
Provided the Australians emerge in the top two from Pool D - they face matches against England, USA and Niue - the quarter final cross-over would pitch them against one of the top two from Kenya, Fiji, Wales and Papua New Guinea.
For a long time the Kenyans held sway against the Australians, and Adelaide has also proved a very happy hunting ground for them in recent years.
"This is the first place we ever beat England, in my first year as coach," said Kenya's former captain and now coach, Benjamin Ayimba. "The next year we got to the semi finals and then this was also where we reached our first Cup final, last year, so we hope that we can take it one better this season."
"It's a pool that we need to be really sharp to top, and that's what we're going out to do.
"Being the tough pool that it is, getting through it will make it a bit easier for us to get to the Final."
Pools:
Pool A: New Zealand, Argentina, Scotland, Tonga
Pool B: Samoa, South Africa, France, Japan
Pool C: Fiji, Kenya, Wales, Papua New Guinea
Pool D: England, Australia, United States, Niue
Schedule:
(Kick-off is local time - GMT + 9-1/2 hours)
Day One - Friday, March 19:
Match 1: Samoa v France, 18.00
Match 2: South Africa v Japan, 18.22
Match 3: Fiji v Wales, 18.44
Match 4: Kenya v Papua New Guinea, 19.06
Match 5: New Zealand v Scotland, 19.28
Match 6: Argentina v Tonga, 19.50
Match 7: England v United States, 20.12
Match 8: Australia v Niue, 20.34
Day Two - Saturday, March 20.
Match 9: Samoa v Japan, 14.15
Match 10: South Africa v France, 14.37
Match 11: Fiji v Papua New Guinea, 14.59
Match 12: Kenya v Wales, 15.21
Match 13: New Zealand v Tonga, 15.43
Match 14: Argentina v Scotland, 16.05
Match 15: England v Niue, 16.27
Match 16: Australia v United States, 16.49
Match 17: France v Japan, 17.26
Match 18: Wales v Papua New Guinea, 17.48
Match 19: Scotland v Tonga, 18.10
Match 20: United States v Niue, 18.32
Match 21: Samoa v South Africa, 19.04
Match 22: Fiji v Kenya, 19.26
Match 23: New Zealand v Argentina, 19.48
Match 24: England v Australia, 20.10
With thanks to the IRB
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