By Greg Stutchbury
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand's All Blacks Sevens rugby team returned home on Wednesday having clinched their 11th World Series title in an increasingly competitive season that sets up the prospect of a tantalising World Cup next month.
Gordon Tietjens' team clinched the final tour stop in London on Sunday with a crushing 47-12 victory over Australia to finish on 172 points, 41 ahead of second-placed South Africa.
The victory was made all the more sweeter for Tietjens, whose normally stable selections were rocked through injuries to experienced players like captain DJ Forbes and playmaker Tomasi Cama, forcing him to introduce several new players.
As a result, the win at Twickenham was only their second on the tour and the key to their series victory was consistency across all nine tournaments.
The team made seven finals and finished third in the other two tournaments in Wellington and Hong Kong.
"We have done it with a lot of players out. A lot of new youngsters have come up and put their hand up," Tietjens told the International Rugby Board's (IRB) series website.
"It's a confidence booster moving into the World Cup," he added of the June 28-30 tournament in Moscow.
"We know how hard it is going to be, but we only take it one game, one tournament, at a time.
"That (the World Cup) is going to be totally different.
"It might be a totally different team but these guys have put their hands up and said they want to go to Moscow so I have a few problems ahead of me."
LEVEL FIELD
Injury and selection issues aside, Tietjens is also acutely aware that much the field has been levelled across the board during this season's circuit and how close the World Cup tournament could be.
Kenya, under former England coach Mike Friday, came within a whisker of winning their first title in Wellington despite having two players sin-binned in the final against England.
At the same tournament, sevens heavyweights Fiji failed to qualify for a world series Cup quarter-final for the first time and were then beaten by Canada in the final of the Bowl competition.
The Fijians rebounded during the series to win the showcase tournament in Hong Kong but were a distant third in the overall series after some poor performances since that victory in March.
While Fiji struggled, they did not suffer the same ignominy Scotland had to face last weekend in London.
Inventors of the shortened form of the game, the Scots were forced into an eight-team playoff against the likes of Zimbabwe, Georgia and Hong Kong to ensure their place on the circuit next year.
The promotion-relegation playoff was introduced by the IRB this year in an attempt to improve the standard of play and broaden its depth as the sport prepares for its debut at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The bottom three sides after the penultimate Glasgow tournament - Scotland, Portugal and Spain - were forced into the playoff tournament with five qualifiers in London.
The regular play on the world circuit paid off in the end, with all three retaining their places next season, though Scotland were beaten 20-19 by Hong Kong in pool play before they overcame Tonga and then Russia to ensure their place.
"We rose to the occasion and we are back on the series," Scotland captain Colin Gregor told the IRB website.
"It is horrendous being down here so we need to make sure we start the season properly, so tough summer ahead of us with the World Cup and then September, October, we're flying."
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét