Rugby Sevens at the 2018 Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games are nearly upon us. Here are the pools for the tournament:

Men's rugby sevens draw:

POOL A: South Africa, Scotland, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia

POOL B: England, Australia, Samoa, Jamaica

POOL C: New Zealand, Canada, Kenya, Zambia

POOL D: Fiji, Wales, Uganda, Sri Lanka

Women's rugby sevens draw:

POOL A: New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, Kenya

POOL B: Australia, Fiji, England, Wales

The men's competition is highly competitive, 10 of the top 13 sides in the current World Sevens Series are taking part. Pools B & C are the toughest, but even Papua New Guinea can cause problems, so Pool A isn't a wash.

Not all the squads have been announced, but Wales have already cause a stir by naming Justic Tipuric and Hallan Amos. Both players will miss matches in the Pro14 to take part. Personally, I'm excited to see what Tipuric can do but it is never easy switching to sevens when you have trained for the fifteen a side code. When England wing Jess Breach decided to aim for the Games, she switched in January, and missed the Six Nations to get enough game time.

In another surprise, Australia announced they will not renew Andy Friend's contract as coach of the men's sevens side. Friend will be in charge for the Games but Tim Walsh, who coaches the women's side, will take over next season.

Scotland have also named players who s absence will cause Glasgow issues

TJ wrote:Scotland have also named players who s absence will cause Glasgow issues

I think Glasgow will be fine now that the 6N are over and their injury situation is much improved. Signing DTH as additional back three cover will fill in any gaps created by Jones and Jackson going off to play sevens, so I am not really that worried and it will be good to bolster the Scotland sevens squad a bit. They may possibly end up staying on and playing in the sevens WC as well.

British guy sucker-punched James Stannard, the Australian sevens captain, outside a kebab shop. Stannard suffered a fractured skull, after hitting his head when he fell, and will probably miss the Games.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/mar/30/australian-rugby-sevens-captain-james-stannard-hit-in-alleged-one-punch-attack

Rugby Fan wrote:British guy sucker-punched James Stannard, the Australian sevens captain, outside a kebab shop. Stannard suffered a fractured skull, after hitting his head when he fell, and will probably miss the Games.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/mar/30/australian-rugby-sevens-captain-james-stannard-hit-in-alleged-one-punch-attack

That is nuts and I hope that thug gets locked up for as long as possible.

As if to further demonstrate the shallow end of the gene pool from which he staggered, the funniest part is when he tried to outrun 3 x Sevens specialists afterwards.

Rugby Fan wrote:British guy sucker-punched James Stannard, the Australian sevens captain, outside a kebab shop. Stannard suffered a fractured skull, after hitting his head when he fell, and will probably miss the Games.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/mar/30/australian-rugby-sevens-captain-james-stannard-hit-in-alleged-one-punch-attack

Crap. Way too many people die in incidents like that. Lets hope he makes a full recovery

England won all three pool games, defeating Australia 26-17 in the last.

England Men and England Women are both through to the semi-finals, and both will face New Zealand.

Wales went down 21-17 to Fiji. Two missed conversions were the difference. Didn't see the match, so no idea if that was an agonizing loss, or if Wales scored late to make for a more respectable scoreline.

On Twitter, Brendan Gallagher thinks the ref was lenient on Fijian high tackles.

Blimmey, that was really tough on Wales. Just a slight lack of composure in the end. Gave Fiji some fright though.

South Africa beat Scotland 26-5, so they are out of medal contention too, now.

England lost both semi-finals but went on to claim both bronze medals. The women beat Canada, while the men beat South Africa.

The men were 14-0 down but came back against the Blitzbokke to win 21014, which is a good showing, given the below-par season we've had this year.

One reason I haven't looked much at this competition is that it's been hard to find coverage outside Commonwealth countries.

Looking at clips of this bronze medal match, South Africa went to sleep three time for the England tries.

Brilliant final from the women. Mens final unfortunately was pretty dull with Fiji just not turning up and NZ cruising to a pretty confused win.

The women's game though was brilliant.

Rugby Fan wrote:British guy sucker-punched James Stannard, the Australian sevens captain, outside a kebab shop. Stannard suffered a fractured skull, after hitting his head when he fell, and will probably miss the Games.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/mar/30/australian-rugby-sevens-captain-james-stannard-hit-in-alleged-one-punch-attack

The alleged attacker found not guilty by the magistrate. As always the differentiation between "not guilty" and "innocent" needs to be made.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-45492433

LondonTiger wrote:

Rugby Fan wrote:British guy sucker-punched James Stannard, the Australian sevens captain, outside a kebab shop. Stannard suffered a fractured skull, after hitting his head when he fell, and will probably miss the Games.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/mar/30/australian-rugby-sevens-captain-james-stannard-hit-in-alleged-one-punch-attack

The alleged attacker found not guilty by the magistrate. As always the differentiation between "not guilty" and "innocent" needs to be made.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-45492433

Sounds like they were all pis**d, none of the witnesses could give a coherent account of events either!

As the guy said outside the court, nothing good ever happens outside a kebab shop after 2am!