Awesome All Blacks claim Sevens crown
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Your support makes all the difference.It is apparently not enough that New Zealand have just waltzed away with their third successive World Sevens Series title. So complete was their domination of the Emirates-sponsored London leg of the International Rugby Board's season-long tournament that it is difficult to envisage anyone ever beating them again.
But the 54-14 comprehensive trouncing of South Africa, the semi-final conquerors of an improved England, in a one-sided final which gave them their sixth win out of the 10 rounds of the tournament to date, is clearly not sufficient.
According to Eric Rush, their veteran playmaker, whose sevens career spans three decades, the obscenely talented All Blacks sevens squad could do with a further injection of personnel before the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in August.
"We will have a stronger squad for the Games," Rush promised after helping the All Blacks stick a half-century on the Springboks. "We will be looking to recruit four or five players from the Super 12."
England's coach, Joe Lydon, is also hoping to bring in players to strengthen his squad, unfortunately he has no idea, as yet, of the who, when and where from. "In my mind I have picked 50 per cent of the squad for the Games," he said following his team's disappointing performance in the semi-final.
"We have used 40-odd players in the series so far and I think we have achieved a lot. We are now challenging in world sevens events, but we still have a lot to learn."
He was particularly pleased with the showing by Tony Roques here, the Saracens flanker is possessed of a remarkable turn of speed and was one of a number of pluses for England.
Henry Paul, the rugby league convert now with Gloucester, was another to shine. So much so, in fact, that he caught the eye of the All Blacks coach, Gordon Tietjens. "Henry Paul is outstanding," pronounced Tietjens, 45, "and if he had used his New Zealand qualifications he would have been in this squad."
"This squad" was crammed to bursting with seriously gifted rugby players who are successes in 15-a-side as well, not least their prolific try scorer Joe Rokococo, a 19-year-old who was born in Auckland of Fijian extraction. His blistering pace and staggering ability to stop, turn and speed away again wrong-footed defences enough times to make him the London tournament's leading scorer with eight tries.
This year's competition finishes at the weekend in Cardiff with England handily placed to claim the third seed spot for the Commonwealth Games.
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