Sevens Action in Wellington

Published 4 February 2010 | By Rugby_Princess

New Zealand come up against International Rugby Board (IRB) sevens champions South Africa on the opening night of the Wellington tournament starting tomorrow. A tournament that has NZ coach Gordon Tietjens on edge but also looking to his team to make it three tournament wins a row.

NZ won the series’ two opening tournaments in Dubai and George in early December but Tietjens knows only too well how quickly the landscape can change. “All the teams will bounce back but I think particularly South Africa,” Tietjens said. “They were very disappointed with their performances, especially after being so consistent last year and winning the title. They’ll be a different team coming into Wellington. “This would be one of the hardest pools we’ve had for a long time. It’s just going to put a lot of pressure on us but you’ve got to adjust to that. At the end of the day, I suppose you have to beat them all to win the tournament.”

“To win the first two tournaments was way above my expectations. I thought we were 20 per cent underdone compared to four-five of the other teams who had been to tournaments prior to Dubai,” Tietjens said. “Tactically we adopted the right gameplans and the players played to those tactics. That was the real key to beating teams like Kenya and England.”

New Zealand will still start favourites tomorrow & need just 14 points to be the first team in the IRB series to reach 15,000 points. Winners of eight of the 10 IRB series, they are the only team who average more than 30 points per game in that time.

Meanwhile, Tietjens believed sevens’ recent acceptance into the rarified Olympic Games fold would not see the code lose its unique carnival feel. “I think sevens rugby will always remain that, even when it becomes an Olympic sport,” he said. “There’s always going to be the excitement. The fact that so many teams can win now makes it more interesting and more teams will become stronger now that there’s the Olympic carrot, which will just make it a better sport.”

Pools
Pool A: New Zealand, South Africa, Wales, Niue.
Pool B: Fiji, Australia, Scotland, Papua New Guinea.
Pool C: England, Kenya, United States, Tonga.
Pool D: Samoa, Argentina, France, Canada.

Series standings
New Zealand 48 points, Fiji 36, England 28, Samoa 26, Argentina 22, Kenya 22, Australia 18, South Africa 16, Wales 8.

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