2018 Hong Kong Sevens

[victorsra Profile Website]

The Hong Kong Sevens starts this Thursday. World's 2nd division. The champions will be promoted to the WSS 2018-19:


Group A: South Africa, Kenia, Papua New Guinea, Mexico

Group B: Brazil, China, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong

Group C: Wales, Belgium, Argentina, Poland



Fixtures: https://www.worldrugby.org/sevens-serie ... 4/fixtures
Broadcast: WorldRugby.org


My predictions: Brazil, South Africa and Wales are the favorites. The three can be the champions. China is the 4th in the run, always a mystery.

[victorsra Profile Website]

Brazilian Squad:

Amanda Araújo (Niterói), Mariana Nicolau (São José), Leila Silva (Leoas de Paraisópolis), Haline Scatrut (Curitiba),Beatriz "Baby" Futuro (Niterói), Raquel Kochhann (Leoas de Paraisópolis), Luiza Campos (Leoas de Paraisópolis), Paulinha Ishibashi (SPAC), Isadora "Izzy" Cerullo (Niterói), Cláudia Jaqueline Teles (Niterói), Bianca Silva (Leoas de Paraisópolis), Aline Furtado (USP), Rafaela Zanelatto (Curitiba);



All squads here: http://www.scrumqueens.com/news/201819- ... ifier-draw

[Armchair Fan Profile]

I believe Belgium has taken the last few months pretty seriously, so don't discard them.

[victorsra Profile Website]

Brazil has 8 players that were in Rio 2016: Amanda Araujo, Haline Scatrut, Beatriz "Baby" Futuro, Raquel Kochhann, Luiza Campos, Paulinha Ishibashi, Isadora "Izzy" Cerullo and Cláudia Jaqueline Teles.

Wales has the Olympic Jasmine Joyce, that played Rio 2016 for Great Britain.

China is the youngest squad: averages only 21 years old.

[victorsra Profile Website]

1st round:

PNG 05 - 17 KEN
SA 31 - 00 MEX
CHN 14 - 07 KAZ
BRA 38 - 00 HK
BEL 12 - 00 ARG
WAL 19 - 17 POL

[victorsra Profile Website]

KEN 40 - 00 MEX
PNG 17 - 26 SA
CHI 19 - 07 HK
BRA 22 - 10 KAZ
BEL 19 - 00 POL
WAL 47 - 05 ARG

[YamahaKiwi Profile]

Yikes! Kenya beat Saffas (first time ever?)24-12! That'll have draw repucussions. Kenyans now in potential winners conversation.

And now China just burnt Brazil badly 31-5!

[Canalina Profile]

Argentina just eliminated Hong Kong as second best third, I think.
PNG should be the best third, Argentina second; Hong Kong eliminated despite the victory on Kazakhstan (if my calculations are correct). Out also Kazakhstan, Poland and Mexico

[victorsra Profile Website]

PNG 27 - 05 MEX
SA 12 - 24 KEN
KAZ 12 - 17 HKG
BRA 05 - 31 CHI
ARG 21 - 05 POL
WAL 05 - 12 BEL

[YamahaKiwi Profile]

AF, you called it. Another shock as BEL take down the Welsh. So all three of Victor's favs have taken a loss (of course they could still win).

[Armchair Fan Profile]

Yes, I know there is some irony in a Spaniard warning of Belgium...

[YamahaKiwi Profile]

Yes, I know there is some irony in a Spaniard warning of Belgium...

Well I guess you guys should know about these guys (and gals) given the low countries (or several parts of) were once upon a time, er umm, in Spanish hands

[rey200 Profile]

as REC 2018 never happened I don't understand his remarks

QF:

CHN v PNG
BEL v BRA
WAL v RSA
KEN v ARG

[Thomas Profile]

Tomorrow's Women's Qualifiers are as follows BST Time shown

Quarter Finals
Fri 06, 3:30am

China 7s
Papua New Guinea 7s
-
Quarter Finals
Fri 06, 3:52am

Belgium 7's
Brazil 7s
-
Quarter Finals
Fri 06, 4:14am

Wales 7s
South Africa 7s
-
Quarter Finals
Fri 06, 4:36am

Kenya 7s
Argentina 7s

[ugrugbychiclet Profile]

Yikes! Kenya beat Saffas (first time ever?)24-12! That'll have draw repucussions. Kenyans now in potential winners conversation.

And now China just burnt Brazil badly 31-5!

Yes, first time ever that any African team has beaten SA although to be honest Kenya should have done so during the 2016 and 2017 RA 7s where in both finals they were firmly in control, leading at halftime and in the last minute as well only to allow SA to score in the dying seconds in both finals. Well done to Kenya today! Tomorrow is going to be a very exciting day. I honestly think that all except Argentina and PNG are serious contenders. Should SA and Kenya win their respective quarterfinals they will meet in the semis ...

[victorsra Profile Website]

I am still very confident about Brazil. Loved to see Bianca and Mari Nicolau very well and the 19 yo Rafa Zanelatto with personality. 3 tries!

[victorsra Profile Website]

Quarterfinals

China 31 - 10 Papua New Guinea

Belgium 17 - 12 Brasil - last ball, so sad (AF was right)

Wales 00 - 26 South Africa

Kenya 17 - 12 Argentina - extra time


Semifinals
China - Belgium
South Africa - Kenya

[Armchair Fan Profile]

Not so much, final will be China v South Africa.

[Armchair Fan Profile]

China is in, 31-14 win over SA.

[victorsra Profile Website]

Semifinals:

China 22 - 05 Belgium
South Africa 12 - 07 Kenya

Final:
China 31 - 14 South Africa

China impressed me in the last day. And only 21 yo of average age....

[Thomas Profile]

I have to admit I was surprised some of the results, some of the teams in HK are in Commonwealth games, were they using the tournament as preparation?

I understand is a qualifier but with Commonwealth games so close it got me wondering.

[Neptune Profile]

Semifinals:

China 22 - 05 Belgium
South Africa 12 - 07 Kenya

Final:
China 31 - 14 South Africa

China impressed me in the last day. And only 21 yo of average age....

We always loose to South Africa in the dying seconds of the game.

[YamahaKiwi Profile]

But to be honest Neptune, your team showed nothing in that game. It was truly one of the worst 7s games I've ever watched with neither team able to catch and pass the ball with much accuracy. Truly error-ridden. But South Africa did have most of the territory and posession. Whenever Kenya had the ball, they just passed it. No one tried to challenge the RSA defence which was very disappointing. Honestly, I just think Kenya had no more petrol in the tank for their attack when it came to this game. That means one thing to improve upon for next year, should they make it HKG, is their conditioning. But getting through to the semis and beating RSA for the first time, is a pretty good achievement.

Congrats to China. They looked by some way the best team on display on day 2. Best conditioned, best team play, and best catching & passing.

[rugbyslave Profile]

I was at all the games and honestly can say that Belgium impressed me the most, I believe Belgium could beat RSA, they look better coached and this is not saying that RSA are not coached well, it seems their tackling is a of a weak standard. I guess if you decide to remove your women from any form of international exposure for 5 years and right at the time Women's rugby is exploding you cannot expect to be a force to be reckoned with. I was impressed with China's knowledge of the law and they never argued or questioned any decision. Watching the commonwealth games Wales really improved from Hong Kong to the Gold coast.

Friday's games were quite good Brazil also deserved more but just lacked finishing, if any body learnt anything from the game is if you don't have a least 1 speedster you have nothing and Wales have one really fast girl. China at least 2. South Africa seems to be a little sluggish, Roos used to be really fast but it seems the South Africans have done way to much weights and not enough speed training.

The final at the Gold coast shows that womens 7's is marketable and will become a great spectator sport.