I hope we dont regret this later this year,from the ARU website, read about Axle
Aussie Spirit success at Hottest 7s in Darwin
January 25, 2009 - 11:00pm
Story by: Other
Australian Sevens coach Michael O'Connor declared the Aussie Spirit's involvement in the Hottest 7s in Darwin a success, despite his side bowing out at the semi-final stage.
The Spirit went down to the eventual tournament champions, the Samoa Barbarians 26-7, but the two-day tournament in the hot and steamy north of Australia exposed a number of up and coming stars to the national Sevens program.
The Samoa Barbarians beat the South Sea Drifters17-15 in a dramatic final, picking up $20,000 of the $60,000 in prizemoney that was on offer here in Darwin.
It took a length of the field try from Timoteo Iosua to nudge the Samoans in front after the scores being all locked up at 10-all at the break.
The Samoans started the final well and combined pace with their normal physicality to knock the Fijians off their game.
But the Drifters worked their way back into the game and were leading 15-10 before Iosua's heroics at the death, where he stepped his way through the Fijian defence and bamboozled Sevens great Waisale Serevi with a Benji Marshall style step.
Later team-mate Ofisa Treviranus was named player of the tournament after a series of bullocking displays and close to a man of the match performance in the final.
Amongst the Australians the big comer would have to be Shaun Foley, the former Roosters rugby league star, who was having his first taste of senior Rugby here in Darwin.
Foley had a huge number of involvements throughout the two days of the tournament, but probably his finest effort was in the quarter-final match against Fijian side Davetalevu, where in the space of a few minutes he stopped one try on the line and then shortly after scored a neat try at the other end.
Foley represented Australian Schools out of Waverly College in Sydney before taking up the chance of a professional contract with the Roosters. He was injured for much of last year but showed some nice touches over the weekend.
Other rookies who were in the thick of the action over the Australia Day weekend included last year's Australian Schools scrumhalf Mark Swanepoel, Michael McDougall and Joel Sykes.
"Shaun's a football with a real future in my mind," O'Connor said. "His error rate is low and he's been able to learn a lot on the run this weekend in Darwin.
"Along with guys like Swanepoel, McDougall, Sykes and the likes of Dom Shipley and Henry Vanderglas - we have exposed a lot of kids to the realities of this level of Sevens Rugby.
"As we found out in the semi-final against the Samoans the Sevens game is a very unforgiving environment and we've got to take out game to a higher level to keep pace with the rest of the world.
"Our mistake rate was just too high and they made the most of their opportunities. They are a good side and will do well when the IRB [Sevens] World Series resumes in a couple of weeks time."
Earlier in the day the Aussie Spirit started the day with a 54-0 win over Ronin Impact. They then progressed through to the knockout stages and took on the dangerous Fijian side Davetalevu and defeated them 15-7.
The try scored by the Fijians was the first time that the Aussies had had their line crossed over the two days of the tournament.
The national Sevens squad will go into camp in Canberra on Wednesday with O'Connor expected to bring in a couple of fresh faces from this tournament here in Darwin.
They will settle on the squad for Wellington the following weekend and then head to New Zealand shortly after that.
Early in the night the Darwin Dingoes, featuring former QantasWallabies and Sevens star Andrew Walker, beat the Darwin Taipans to take out the final of the Barra division.
Walker played a cool hand for the Dingoes with his deft handling skills and great kicking game keeping his side on the front foot throughout the final which saw two Taipans sinbinned for high tackles.
The women's final was won by Zonnators who dominated the final like they did the round play and ran out 29-0 winners over the Easts Tigers from Queensland.
In the Buff final, Sydney club Randwick kicked out to a 17-0 lead in the match up against Uprising Beach Resort from Fiji and eventually got home 17-7.
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ont regret this half way thru this year
Aussie Spirit success at Hottest 7s in Darwin
January 25, 2009 - 11:00pm
Story by: Other
Australian Sevens coach Michael O'Connor declared the Aussie Spirit's involvement in the Hottest 7s in Darwin a success, despite his side bowing out at the semi-final stage.
The Spirit went down to the eventual tournament champions, the Samoa Barbarians 26-7, but the two-day tournament in the hot and steamy north of Australia exposed a number of up and coming stars to the national Sevens program.
The Samoa Barbarians beat the South Sea Drifters17-15 in a dramatic final, picking up $20,000 of the $60,000 in prizemoney that was on offer here in Darwin.
It took a length of the field try from Timoteo Iosua to nudge the Samoans in front after the scores being all locked up at 10-all at the break.
The Samoans started the final well and combined pace with their normal physicality to knock the Fijians off their game.
But the Drifters worked their way back into the game and were leading 15-10 before Iosua's heroics at the death, where he stepped his way through the Fijian defence and bamboozled Sevens great Waisale Serevi with a Benji Marshall style step.
Later team-mate Ofisa Treviranus was named player of the tournament after a series of bullocking displays and close to a man of the match performance in the final.
Amongst the Australians the big comer would have to be Shaun Foley, the former Roosters rugby league star, who was having his first taste of senior Rugby here in Darwin.
Foley had a huge number of involvements throughout the two days of the tournament, but probably his finest effort was in the quarter-final match against Fijian side Davetalevu, where in the space of a few minutes he stopped one try on the line and then shortly after scored a neat try at the other end.
Foley represented Australian Schools out of Waverly College in Sydney before taking up the chance of a professional contract with the Roosters. He was injured for much of last year but showed some nice touches over the weekend.
Other rookies who were in the thick of the action over the Australia Day weekend included last year's Australian Schools scrumhalf Mark Swanepoel, Michael McDougall and Joel Sykes.
"Shaun's a football with a real future in my mind," O'Connor said. "His error rate is low and he's been able to learn a lot on the run this weekend in Darwin.
"Along with guys like Swanepoel, McDougall, Sykes and the likes of Dom Shipley and Henry Vanderglas - we have exposed a lot of kids to the realities of this level of Sevens Rugby.
"As we found out in the semi-final against the Samoans the Sevens game is a very unforgiving environment and we've got to take out game to a higher level to keep pace with the rest of the world.
"Our mistake rate was just too high and they made the most of their opportunities. They are a good side and will do well when the IRB [Sevens] World Series resumes in a couple of weeks time."
Earlier in the day the Aussie Spirit started the day with a 54-0 win over Ronin Impact. They then progressed through to the knockout stages and took on the dangerous Fijian side Davetalevu and defeated them 15-7.
The try scored by the Fijians was the first time that the Aussies had had their line crossed over the two days of the tournament.
The national Sevens squad will go into camp in Canberra on Wednesday with O'Connor expected to bring in a couple of fresh faces from this tournament here in Darwin.
They will settle on the squad for Wellington the following weekend and then head to New Zealand shortly after that.
Early in the night the Darwin Dingoes, featuring former QantasWallabies and Sevens star Andrew Walker, beat the Darwin Taipans to take out the final of the Barra division.
Walker played a cool hand for the Dingoes with his deft handling skills and great kicking game keeping his side on the front foot throughout the final which saw two Taipans sinbinned for high tackles.
The women's final was won by Zonnators who dominated the final like they did the round play and ran out 29-0 winners over the Easts Tigers from Queensland.
In the Buff final, Sydney club Randwick kicked out to a 17-0 lead in the match up against Uprising Beach Resort from Fiji and eventually got home 17-7.
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ont regret this half way thru this year
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