Oof, 43-7!
Hard lines Team GB, but the Fijians were just from another planet – how can men that big and that strong be so fast and so nimble? Just amazing.
The British squad are obviously no mugs but Fiji just absolutely played them off the park, tactically as well as physically – their defence in particular (on the few occasions on which they’d lost possession) was outstanding. Looked like a real Men vs Boys affair. Congratulations to Ben Ryan, a great achievement.
Only event so far where I wasn’t rooting for GB – Fiji were incredible and the win obviously means so much to them. First ever Olympic medal of any kind for Fiji – just brilliant.
Well said.
GB beat New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina. Haven’t seen the final, but they were probably worn out. Fiji are great though!
Good point. The Final was the only match I’d seen (indeed, the only event I’ve seen in the Games so far), so it wasn’t until I heard the commentary that I learned who GB had had to beat to get there. It’s true that the GB Team looked as though they had absolutely nothing left in the tank whatsoever.
There are a lot of islander playing rugby , league and union down here and the challenge is that they develop into such big guys so early. In the under age competition they are often twice the size of the other kids. It’s like every kid is a Jonah Lomu and their tacklers are Wiley E Coyote about to get flatttened.
Another good point. I know that in an increasing number of territories (?especially in the SH?) ‘matching by size’ rather than ‘by age’ is being trialled / introduced. Makes a lot of sense, not only in terms of minimising injuries but also keeping up enjoyment levels amongst the more normally-sized players. If it stops them from being thrashed every week, and so maintains their commitment and thus keeps them in the sport, then that’s got to be a good thing.
the conundrum then is the mismatch of physical and mental development
Agreed, though after the initial shock there’s an inbuilt developmental advantage to being big for your age, in that you get to play against people who are your physical peers but your cognitive betters – their greater decision-making abilities & etc really requires the younger players to raise their game quickly. I remember seeing many lads playing up a year or two at age-grade and I think without exception they all went on into the EPS.
It”s a pity they don’t try something similar in junior football here in the UK.
Most enjoyable part of the Olympics so far; really enjoyed the women’s 7’s too. The men’s final was a bit men vs boys but the Fijian movement was something else.
Pity the football authorities are too up themselves to field a British team.
Yes, I’ve really enjoyed the Olympic rugby sevens, both men’s and women’s. It seems an ideal Olympic sport. Well done to Fiji on a phenomenal performance. Six straight victories, the last one an absolute thrashing.
I liked it when the Fijians knelt down so that Princess Anne was able to reach up high enough to put the meals round their necks.
Echo some of the comments above. England – sorry GB 🙂 probably did better than expected but fabulous to see the way the Fijians play their rugby, particularly the sevens format and their huge delight at winning gold. Go Fiji!! 🙂
Agreed – GB had only been together as a squad for 10 weeks (though, admittedly, all were specialist 7s players). Fiji were absolutely next-level, clearly unbeatable, so for GB to actually secure Silver from a background of not even having played together 10 weeks ago (apart from the England boys) is, in fact, a great result.
I don’t think they were all 7s specialists. Bennett for example is a XVs player.
Ah, I hadn’t bothered to check tbh, had just assumed.
Perhaps I should have said “all pros, unlike the Fijians”.
You mean the Fiji team that travels the world on the international 7s circuit?
Yes, them – I just thought that not all of them were full-time pros. I used to know a couple of lads in the England 7s (under Ben Ryan, as it happens) and I’m sure that one of them mentioned that the Fijians weren’t all pro. I must have misunderstood – happy to be corrected.
Mainly English but some key contributions from Welsh and Scots.
Of course. Wasn’t trying to deny the Welsh and Scots guys their due credit, just making the point that the squad wasn’t a long-established unit.
Yes, and it was the English guys who started missing tackles in the final 😉 (not really)
*does Hard Stare westwards along M4*
Watched it last night. A gold medal well deserved – in a different class to our boys – and some of their supporters were as scary as the team. The stuff of nightmares.
They played very well and took their chances, GB were way down in the final though. Fiji are certainly very strong, but if you look at resuls over the last year then they are beatable, particularly by NZ and SA. Even Scotland won one tournament!