Boks limp into quarters
10 Feb 2008
The Bok Sevens team lost 14-10 to England but still qualified for the quarter-finals of the US Sevens.
South Africa booked their place in the play-offs with comfortable wins against the USA (36-0) and Mexico (53-0) but couldn’t put the Poms away. Instead of setting up an easier meeting with Kenya, the Boks will face Argentina in the quarters. The winner will play Samoa or Scotland in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, current IRB Series log leaders New Zealand cruised into the quarter-finals without conceding a point. They beat Wales 19-0, France 39-0 and Scotland 27-0, and will play Fiji in the next round.
Quarter-final line-up:
New Zealand vs Fiji
Scotland vs Samoa
South Africa vs Argentina
Kenya vs England
32 Comments
10 Feb 2008, 10:49 am
1
10 Feb 2008, 10:56 am
Lost?
To ENGLAND?
Sis, man!
10 Feb 2008, 11:00 am
Tackler
Where is the RWC?
10 Feb 2008, 11:04 am
And NZ’s REWARD for not conceding a point in Pool Play.
.
.
.
.
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Fiji in the Quarters.
Now that’s tough. How are the seeding decided? These are the top two Teams in the Series at present.
SA / NZ final.
10 Feb 2008, 11:10 am
Tickles,
Does this now mean SA is ranked lower than The Cook Islands?
10 Feb 2008, 11:22 am
Cane
I think Fiji lost a game to Samoa – that is why they ended up playing NZ in Quarters. The seedings were thrown out the window with Samoa beating Fiji and Eng beating SA. In fact SA now have the easier road to the final compared to NZ, Fiji, Eng!!!
10 Feb 2008, 11:31 am
BMM,
That’s 7′s for you.
If NZ can get past Fiji, Then they have an excellent chance of making the final.
For SA, Argentina will be hard, but I think you are the better Team so should win. Samoa will be 50/50.
Surely England will not enter the equation.
And thanks for updating me.
10 Feb 2008, 11:50 am
Sevens rugby in SA is mostly followed, supported and even played by the Transformed Ones.
Lower standards are therefore understandable, and poor performances come as no surprise to anyone with a reasonable level of intelligence.
10 Feb 2008, 11:57 am
Maybe if you followed Sevens you will understand that the game allows for upsets all the time Tac – which is why minnows like Kenya, the Cook Islands and the rest records a win against a top tier nations with huge budgets.
It is the nature of the competition/game – same as 20/20 cricket.
10 Feb 2008, 12:15 pm
Pissant
Which kind of reduces the credibility of the game, surely?
But each to their own. (We should be so lucky.)
10 Feb 2008, 12:16 pm
PissAnt,
Exactly. And even if some of you Okes don’t know it, your 7′s Team is pretty good.
It is at least 3 times better than it was 7 years ago.
Hang in there,it will only get better from here on in.
10 Feb 2008, 12:34 pm
So England come out on top against SA. I sign of things to come this year…
10 Feb 2008, 12:48 pm
Biggles,
Don’t you worry about SA cobber. You got enough on your plate with the Cook Islands and Wales.
You are damned lucky the Isle of Man does not have a Team in the 6N.
10 Feb 2008, 12:54 pm
13
Just as you are lucky the pacific islanders donate you guys hundreds of players. Without them you’d be on Italy’s level.
10 Feb 2008, 13:10 pm
Biggles,
Any Pacific Islander, Pom or Eskimo for that matter, who calls NZ home, qualifies on IRB residency laws and is good enough, is considered for the National Team.
It’s called “being fair”. To do otherwise would be racist or xenophobic.
Anyway…… how did your Pacific Born, former NZ Rugby League International Import go last weekend.
My word….. that’s a mouth full (no pun intended). “Pacific Born New Zealand Rugby League Import”.
Oh yeah, preach to me Biggles. Preach to me.
10 Feb 2008, 13:13 pm
biggles get a life you stinking pom.
if it wasnt for all the people from other countries working in the uk your country would have collapsed because you lot are too stup/lazy.
howzit cane
10 Feb 2008, 13:19 pm
What are you still doing here Fernly,
Ig promised me he was going to pull the plug on you before He moved on?
10 Feb 2008, 13:22 pm
cane he did change my nick and hoped i would not notice it and post,i noticed and changed it back to just fern.
10 Feb 2008, 13:25 pm
#14 Biggles,
Just as long as NZ can call on the 300 registered players in the Cook Islands……….that should be enough to keep you “Jolly good Chaps” in check.
How can you show your face here …….England got shafted by a Country with 300 Registered players!
10 Feb 2008, 13:26 pm
cane is that 300 registered “open” players or do that include under 21′s?
10 Feb 2008, 16:10 pm
damm, didn’t know they played rugby in Mexico.
10 Feb 2008, 16:26 pm
New Zealland ethnic groups:
European 69.8%, Maori 7.9%, Asian 5.7%, Pacific islander 4.4%, other 0.5%, mixed 7.8%, unspecified 3.8% (2001 census)
LoL, what do they mean by “unspecified”??
10 Feb 2008, 16:37 pm
So let me get this straight. There are less than 400 000 Maori’s on this planet. Wow.
In comparison to that, 3 million Afrikaners look like a sizeable population indeed. And make up about the same percentage of the national population that the Maori’s do in NZ.
Interesting.
10 Feb 2008, 17:16 pm
Exactly Tac.
Different stroked for different okes.
You see Sevens devalue the game I see it contribute.
I do not like 20/20 cricket for instance, everything is microwaved these days or a just add water concept.
In the same way I enjoy the 15 man game more than the 7 code, but each has it place and its following.
10 Feb 2008, 17:50 pm
The Boks should easily make it to the finals. They should have beat England anyway. Both of Goings tries were very lucky and SA missed at left at least two additional sure tries (on a Powell foward pass and a knock-on with an open try line).
I agree with cane. It should be a NZ/SA final.
10 Feb 2008, 19:00 pm
Johannesburg – Former Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer has severed all ties with rugby, and his only contact with the game in future will be to watch his three young sons play at primary schools level.
Meyer has accepted a senior position with sport supplement company USN in which he has also acquired a shareholding, Rapport reported on Sunday
The former Bulls coach, who was the favourite to be appointed Springbok coach, was last month pipped in the boardroom when the presidents’ council gave Peter de Villiers the mandate to coach the Springboks.
The report quotes Meyer as saying “To coach the Springboks was my last remaining dream in rugby. What happened there was disappointing.”
However, he said the way in which he was ousted – with the president of the SA Rugby Board Oregan Hoskins admitting that the appointment of De Villiers’ was not based on rugby reasons alone – was not why he had decided to cut all rugby ties.
Meyer coached the Blue Bulls to three Currie Cup championships and once to a share of the spoils, as well as to Vodacom Cup success. Last year he became the first South African coach to win the Super 14 with the Bulls.
Although he has been in great demand as coach at overseas clubs and even national sides, Meyer said at heart he remains a South African and “I can’t coach the Boks, I don’t want to coach.”
He said he would not miss the politics of rugby, and also expressed his concern about the number of top players leaving for overseas clubs.
“More must be done to keep them from leaving,” said Meyer.
Meyer wished the Springboks and Peter de Villiers everything of the best.
10 Feb 2008, 20:15 pm
8. Tact – it all depends on the coach, watch the 15 man code under PDV.
O! and yes they may have improved as a team but then everybody has improved. Which of these guys would you want in a S14 team…? They don’t know how to tackle and would not stand their man against any serious competition.
10 Feb 2008, 21:48 pm
#16
After that post goodbye Big hit
10 Feb 2008, 22:41 pm
Kak team, kak selection policies, deserve to be knocked out at quaters stage.
11 Feb 2008, 00:14 am
Post 22. That 4.49% Pacific Island demographic component is a bit of a joke as far as rugby is considered. One should include the population of all the Pacific islands!!!!
11 Feb 2008, 05:07 am
And 27-12 in the finals? NZ has title 4 out of four rounds.
11 Feb 2008, 05:14 am
Heineken should just build a bridge and get over it. Earn your test-coach spurs with a minnow test nation like Argentina or Scotland. Or even poor old England.
After all, the Boks really don’t need Heineken embarking on another three-year disastrous learning curve like he had when he first cut his Super 12 teeth. And, yes, test rugby IS a whole new step up, just as what Super Rugby is vastly tighter and faster than Currie Cup.
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