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All Blacks Sevens veteran’s candid assessment of ‘tough’ day in Cape Town
By Finn Morton
Walking in silence away from the buzzing fandom of supporters, the All Blacks Sevens were visibly disappointed as they walked down the Cape Town Stadium tunnel on Saturday.
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For a team that harboured genuine ambitions of winning it all at the Cape Town SVNS this weekend, New Zealand’s quest had taken a tough blow with a 21-14 loss to rivals Samoa in the early evening.
That defeat sealed the All Blacks Sevens’ uncharacteristically poor finish in Pool C, with an earlier loss to surprise package Canada seeing the Kiwis finish in third place.
New Zealand managed to record what seemed to be a statement 35-5 win over Trans-Tasman foe Australia in between those other games, but their success was short-lived in the end.
With their entire Cape Town SVNS campaign hanging in the balance, the New Zealanders walked towards their changeroom in silence – with some players looking blankly at the ground.
It was almost painfully clear how visibly upset the players seemed to be after a “patchy” day at the office, but veteran Scott Curry took a moment to affirm that the team “can be a lot better.”
“I felt we didn’t really get into the game in that last one,” Curry told RugbyPass.
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“I mean we could see what we do when we get a bit of ball and play well against Australia but the World Series is tough these days.
“Every game is tough so you’ve got to be on every single time, every minute, every game.
“We probably didn’t quite play as well as we wanted to in that last game but I think we’re taking what we’re doing in preparation around our analysis of other teams and we’re actually putting it onto the park,” he added.
“We just need to be a little bit tidier around our ball retention. That’s probably the only thing that’s going to kill us, I think.”
The All Blacks Sevens couldn’t have started the match any better, and maybe that’s what made the terrible taste of defeat so bitter and tough to swallow.
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Ngarohi McGarvey-Black pounced on a bouncing ball to race down the field, with the playmaker throwing an ambitious cut-out pass to Sione Molia for a try after just 14 seconds.
But the All Blacks Sevens’ next score wouldn’t come until the last minute, with three tries for Samoa seeing the Pacific Islanders race out to a somewhat comfortable 21-7 lead.
While Scott Curry’s try in the final minute offered the New Zealanders a glimmer of hope, it wasn’t to be as Samoa held on for a promising victory.
“It’s always a big physical battle against our Samoan brothers. It was sort of tit for tat there and probably just guilty of giving away possession a little bit too easily,” Curry said.
“They took their opportunities when they had them and we couldn’t fight our way back into it that time.”
With the new-look SVNS series granting two third-placed sides safe passage through to the quarter-finals, the All Blacks Sevens were handed a lifeline in South Africa.
New Zealand have progressed through to the cup quarter-finals where they’ll face Ireland – who beat hosts South Africa in the final game on day one – at 10.56 am local time.
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The writer here ignores the fact that, following on from not taking the penalty kick, the All Blacks did manage to score a try a few minutes later. Not directly from the penalty awarded, but it is speculation to say that had they opted to take the koi they would have won. Even if they kicked it, which was no guarantee, they would still be trailing and would have had to start again at half-way.
Go to commentsI would be surprised if Sales Opoku Fordjour and Northampton’s Tommy Freeman are not in the team, Anthony Watson is also one that could go on the wing. One thing I must say is that the front 3 will get destroyed against a team like South Africa.
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