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New Zealand during the Sevens World Series 2011 - Source: Photosport -
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The IRB Sevens rugby World Series in London is over. It was a spectacular event and for a while it was also one which had the headline writers of newspapers and websites looking slightly off centre.
When the smoke of the celebratory fireworks at Twickenham had cleared the website Sportal yelped "New Zealand Claim World Title" and that was true i guess. Then an early NZ Herald headline proclaimed proudly "NZ Wins 9th World Title." I even saw ESPN say "NZ Claim Sevens Series Title."
All of the above were factually correct but it was funny that later stories from those same websites summed up more realistically what really happened.
I will bet you, what really transpired would have surely had the New Zealand sevens supremo Gordon Tietjens more than somewhat perplexed.
What New Zealand achieved at Twickenham, when they really did win the 2010/11 IRB World Sevens Series, was a kind of Pyrrhic victory (see ancient Roman history) inasmuch as they might have won but they lost quite a bit as well.
The facts are D.J.Forbes's team played very well on Day 1 of the event and looked the best of good things. It seemed they were on a march towards yet another final. As they did so on the other side of the draw poor England was really struggling and in fact did not qualify for the big touring points on offer on the second day.
That left New Zealand to actually win the season's series with 'an innings to spare.' Which they did by winning over Wales in the quarter-finals.
But then in the semi-finals New Zealand met a Fiji team which so completely blitzed them that any celebrations coach Tietjens might have been thinking of having (a night scoffing champagne in London's most glittering nightclubs?) was lost in the worry about how benign, toothless and exposed his champion team had suddenly looked when meeting the best team Fiji had put on the field for years. The final score says it all; Fiji 42 New Zealand 19.
It would be easy to say that D.J.Forbes' team had sub-consciously turned off from their fullest effort seeing as they had clinched the World Series in the previous round but Tietjens and Forbes have shown, time and time again, that they do not ever countenance any kind of soft going. Far from it, they steel themselves to win every game because they know that the old principle applies now in the sevens series that no one ever gives a sucker an even break.
Besides, they wanted to win London because they had not won there for, wow, four long seasons! In the world of Tietjens such a gap in time is like a lifetime.
Fiji in that game was truly wonderful. As attacking and fearsome a force not seen in years from them. In truth when they lead 42-7 that would have been a fairer representation of their match dominance over the New Zealanders than the actual score finished. While we must give credit to the two late tries by New Zealand's Tim Mikkelson and Buxton Popoali'i there was more than a hint that Fiji themselves might have themselves done what was earlier hinted of New Zealand and that was to take their foot of the pedal.
Fiji had sacked their coach before this tournament and several of their players were new kids on the block but they played superbly. Therefore it was a massive surprise that they then, one hour later, lost to South Africa in the final by 24-14. Perhaps Fiji had committed their fullest physical effort, concentration and performance when they played their semi 'final' against New Zealand?
But now let us deal with the bigger picture. Gordon Tietjens deserves only the highest praise for the season's effort with this season's team. Remember, he had taken a star-studded All Black-tinted squad to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October last year and they won gold handsomely.
But then the Super 15 rugby selectors came in waving their cheque books and seven of his medallists were snapped up for promotion to the SANZAR series. Tietjens knows how the system works and knew such a decimation of his winning Games squad was bound to happen. That meant though that with only five players left to be his core for the new sevens world tour of eight events he only had about six weeks in which to find a new team.
D.J Forbes, Toby Arnold, Lote Raikabula, Tomasi Cama and Tim Mikkelson suddenly became the old hands as 'Titch' went on the prowl himself. But in a twinkling it seemed, the great coach had identified, contracted, trained and travelled the team to Dubai in early December 2010.
New unheard of names like Frank Halai, a stud-farm worker and rugby winger from Waikato, and Bryce Heem, a speedy basketball loving kid from Auckland, and the fullback switched to forward Scott Curry, a trainee school teacher from Tauranga, came out of nowhere to join the touring sevens circus.
Add in Solomon King, the tough Bay of Plenty forward, who was back to full fitness, and the dancing Buxton Popoali'i, lately of Otago, plus a couple of other pick up players (Shane Christie of Nelson and David Raikuna of Waikato were the latest to travel - to Twickenham) and a new look New Zealand team burst onto the scene.
How Tietjens does it is beyond full understanding. Put simply, he can mould any new combination to full team unity within several days of travel and togetherness and three or four training sessions. Thus by the end of six tough events on the tour his squad had won four events; George (South Africa), Wellington, Hong Kong and Adelaide.
Second-placed England had also had some success but they grew fainter in each early game at their own tournament, eventually collapsing badly in front of their own people. Despite South Africa and Fiji playing the Twickenham final, Tietjens team had enough points in the bank to savour a victory out of defeat, more or less as old Pyrrhus himself had done all those centuries before.
There is one more stop on the tour this season. At Murrayfield next weekend the 16 countries will go at it all over again. With the World Series decided pride will be at stake. For New Zealand there will be a chance to try to rectify their Twickenham stumble and regain some winning satisfaction to bring home. For the other main teams England, South Africa, Samoa and Fiji there will be a secondary four-way battle in their own contest with the runner's up place at stake.
For the Scottish event the crafty Tietjens might consider making one subtle change to his top line up. There were signs that the playmaker Tomasi Cama was feeling the effects of a long touring season whereas Buxton Popoali'i looked for all the world like a sprite with his toe-tapping sidesteps and explosive bursts. His try against Wales on day 1 ought to go into one of those lists, mostly populated by the likes of Christian Cullen and Jonah Lomu, of the all time great New Zealand Sevens tries.
So there it is; whichever way the headline writer saw it, the Twickers title did go to South Africa but the main headliners were once again Gordon Tietjens. For the 9th time in 12 seasons his multi-faceted, re-shaped, renewable team has won the IRB world tour. Pyrrhic victory though it might have been he'll take it - yet again.
