Fiji were sensational but 10/10 for the Blitzbokke
LIKE many of you I rather stand accused of dipping in and out of the World Series Sevens. I will watch, report on and enjoy the London and Paris legs in real time and, because it’s on the same time zone, I also tend to take in large chunks of the South African event which this year was in Cape Town.
Apart from that, other than a dawn rise to watch the Hong Kong Sevens, which ranks highly among my favourite sporting events, I’m afraid it’s mainly highlight packages and Press reports. Dubai, Sydney, Hamilton, Vancouver, Las Vegas and Singapore – it’s all a bit of a trans-continental blurr if I’m honest and you sometimes wonder if that doesn’t apply to some of the players as well.
Travel is great up to a certain point, but when you are working as well the glamour soon fades and it is to the players’ great credit that some of the veterans such as England’s Tom Mitchell, Cecil Africa with South Africa and Canada’s Nathan Hirayama, maintain such extraordinarily high levels of performance year after year. No groundhog day or jet lag for them.
Sevens can be packaged very nicely for TV and those images can be sent around the world but for me the World Series also remains, at heart, a local flagwaving exercise organising a great rugby weekend out in agreeable locations.
Unsurprisingly two of the most successful tournaments – for all sorts of reasons – appear to have been in Las Vegas and Vancouver.
In that vein it’s surprising that a sun-drenched event leg hasn’t yet been organised for Portugal or Spain, or dare one dream big and even suggest Suva? Surely such tournaments would give added value and lustre.
The big nations – England, New Zealand, France, Australia and South Africa – don’t stand and fall by the success of their annual leg of the World Series. In fact although the rugby was excellent, the crowd at the season’s finale at the Stade Bouin in Paris was disappointing with half empty stands for most of the big games. The Series deserved to go out with a bang not a whimper.
Yes, Sevens is now an Olympic event and needs the big gala occasions but it is also remains the missionary arm of the sport, spreading the word, attracting new players and trying out new venues.
Meanwhile, what was the verdict on the 2017-18 Series? Well Fiji, after misfiring early in the season provided the brilliance, winning five of the last seven tournaments but that wasn’t quite enough to take the title from an ultra-consistent South Africa, who won only two tournaments but reached the semi-finals or better in all ten legs, a testimony to their strength in depth and tenacity.
That dynamic is well reflected by the World Series Dream Team for the year, nominated by coaches, with four Fijians making the first seven and only one South African – and although that seems a little unjust secretly the Blitzbokke will take it as a compliment to their team ethic.
It’s been a very mixed campaign for British teams with Wales finishing 14th and Scotland 12th and while England did rally in London and Paris to climb up to respectable fifth, they will need to go one better next season to guarantee an automatic place for Team GB at the Tokyo Olympics.
Ireland incidentally made a huge impression as guests at London when they clinched third place with a touchline dropped kick conversion with the last kick of the game.
England’s 19-17 quarter-final win in Paris against Fiji – with the Fijians needing to make the semi-finals to close out their series win – was one of the most skilful, athletic, full-on and gripping games of Sevens I’ve witnessed in many years, played out against the slightly bizarre backdrop of a sparsely populated arena at 10.30am on a bleary eyed Sunday morning.
Mitchell’s men nicked it nearly two minutes after the claxon for the end of regular time had gone following a remarkable passage of play when they refused to let the ball die and the memory of that will give them hope. Reproduce that effort on a more regular basis and they will be contending for top honours next season.
HSBC World Series Dream Team for 2017-18: Kalione Nasoko (Fiji), Dylan Sage (South Africa), Oscar Ouma (Kenya), Jerry Tuwai (Fiji) Amenoni Nasilasila (Fiji), Ben O’Donnell (Australia), Eroni Sau (Fiji)