Rugby 7s

[shiznit]

A counter argument is he's actually not necessarily a very good coach - he won a lot when nobody much cared, and we simply relied on our young talent and some 7's "specialists" - translation, like the coach not really up to 15's. He wasn't a success as a provincial coach, was never going to coach at a higher level at 15's, so saw an opportunity... good luck to him, but aside from fitness I am not sure there's been much to marvel at tactically from what we've been up to... time for a change of coach was a few years back, perhaps...

And the fact that our best players don't play is telling...

Glad Fiji won - they've always led the way in 7's, and taken it seriously (of course they are pretty much mud at the real thing)

Actually... That post there probably shows how little you actually know about 7's Rugby and how it's evolved.

Titj was far more than just fitness... He actually created a lot of the structure in attack and defence that we see in 7's today.

The way teams reset the play by recycling the ball and going backwards and having a pivot and sweeper... Those were all inmovations which were hallmarks of Titjes NZ sides which dominated the scene for decades... Now it's all regular part of Sevens rugby.

Then you look at the talent he identified and developed... Jonah Lomu, Christian Cullen, Joe Rocokoko, Corey Jane, Liam Messam, Glen Osbourne, Ben Smith, Julian Savea, Israel Dagg etc... They have all spent there early parts of there careers under Titj before moving on to the All Blacks...

I'm not saying he's faultless... He certainly isn't... But people need to have some perspective before the knee jerk calls for him to be sacked...

Because I can tell you one thing... If NZ Rugby decide to move in another direction... Don't be surprised if he ends up coming back to bite us on the arse in 4 years time with a Team like GB, AUS or ARG.

 

[JJ]

He didn't identify Lomu, that's hilarious - everyone knew about Lomu long before he played 7s - same for most of the others, they were all already identified

But yeah, only take a very cursory interest in 7s, but he's probably ready to move on anyway

 

[ozbash]

He didn't identify Lomu,

no, but he developed him. Jonah wouldnt have been half the player he was without Titch..

 

[JJ]

many contributed to Jonah's development - Titjiens was just one of them

 

[Twizzle]

Jonah has a lot to do with it also