Tournament finale one for the ages
ENGLAND STOLE the title, Kenya the hearts at a pulsating sevens tournament that produced compelling drama on the field to match the partying in the stands.
New Zealand bowed out of their home event amid questions over the form and age of their senior players and with injuries to Kurt Baker (hamstring) and skipper DJ Forbes (knee) that will likely keep them off the plane to Las Vegas tomorrow.
But whatever disappointment there was at the home side’s failure to defend its Wellington title was overshadowed by perhaps the most memorable final in the event’s 14-year history.
The scoreboard read England 24, Kenya 19 after Sam Edgerley ended a battle of wills to grab his country’s second New Zealand title 2 minutes and 10 seconds into golden point extra time.
Kenya had been crowd favourites all weekend and battled like men possessed in a bid to win their first IRB world series title.
It wasn’t to be, as two sinbin-nings sapped their legs, but the efforts of men like Collins Injera, Oscar Ouma, and Willy Ambaka will live long in the memory.
They also highlighted the narrowing gap between the so-called minnows and the powerhouses.
Kenya beat New Zealand in extra time in the semifinals, and South Africa in the quarters, while Fiji failed to make the cup quarterfinals for the first time in world series history.
There are clearly new challenges for Tietjens, who was forced to leap to the defence of his most senior players – for now.
The New Zealand coach acknowledged there would be criticism of his core group after their shock semifinal loss.
Surprisingly it was the estab- lished big three of Tomasi Cama, Lote Raikabula and even Forbes who struggled to make an impact during the tournament.
All three are north of 30 and with plenty of young talent coming through, Tietjens knows there will come a time for change, but he insists that time has not yet come.
‘‘I’ve got two or three guys that are 29 and 30 now and I will get that criticism, but I’m the coach that’s looking at the numbers and what they’re producing at training and in games.
‘‘ We’ve got to remember that Eric Rush was still playing for New Zealand when he was 39 and he kept himself in outstanding shape.’’
But Tietjens knows the 2016 Olympics could be a challenge for some of his trusted men unless they managed their workloads.
Ideally, that would mean more players contracted solely to the abbreviated game, ideally seven or eight next year.
‘‘It’s a tough one, but for those players, certainly when you’re 30, I think you’ve got to start making the choice and it might be that these players can only play the one form of the sport and that could be sevens more than 15s.’’
There was consolation for New Zealand in the fact they beat Samoa 17-7 in the play-off for third place to maintain a healthy lead atop the series ladder.
Tietjens couldn’t say exactly why his side had been so rusty against Kenya except to say they had not taken their opportunities after leading 14-0 at halftime.
New Zealand beat Australia 24-5 in their quarter- final, but never really had the dominance they have previously displayed in Wellington.
Tietjens also wondered if in future his side would need to play a tournament the week before in order to better bridge the Christmas New Year gap.