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4 March 2015
NEW ZEALAND SEVENS TEAMS IN THE 2014-15 SERIES (In brackets; are the Keith Quinn performance ratings for each player out of 10 so far this season)
GC DB PE WN LV HK TK SC ENG CAREER
Tomasi Cama (5) x - - - -
Scott Curry (9) x x x x x
Sam Dickson (7) x x x x x
DJ Forbes (6) x x x x -
Gillies Kaka (7) x x x x x
Tim Mikkelson (6) x x x - -
Lote Raikabula (4) x - - - x
Sherwin Stowers (7) x x x x x
George Tilsley (1) x - - - -
Joe Webber (7) - x x x x
Matt Clutterbuck (1) x - - - -
Tony Ensor (1) x - - - -
Murphy Taramai (5) - x x x x
Declan O'Donnell (2) - x x - -
Sam Vaka (3) x x x - -
Kurt Baker (4) - x x - -
Ambrose Curtis (6) - x x x x
Dylan Collier (6) - - - x x
Reiko Ioane (7) - - - x x
Beaudine Waaka (5) - - - x x
Jack Goodhue (5) - - - x x
After Las Vegas, New Zealand had used 21 players on the HSBC World Sevens series.
Comments 0
James 'Buster' Barrett, in his time the lightest AB forward, went to WWI in 1915 with the Auckland Mounted Rifles division. His horse was trained for war while away but never saw any action and never returned.
These games have become an anachronism in modern rugby. ‘B’ internationals between second – or ‘B’ teams - of countries were played mostly in the second half of the 20th century. The British, Irish and French were the countries that mostly embraced the idea. For a time, some of the hardest games of each European season came in the international ‘B’ matches. The Wales v France ‘B’ teams, in particular, had some robust encounters between 1970 and 1989 when they met annually.
Internationals involving ‘B’ teams were never as popular in South Africa, Australia or New Zealand, though each dabbled with the concept of fielding a ‘second’ national team at some stage.
South Africa actually used to call its ‘second’ selection the ‘Junior’ Springboks. Australia fielded a ‘B’ team for the first time in 1988 when it met New Zealand. In 1991 New Zealand ‘B’ met Australia ‘B’ in Brisbane. New Zealand won an exciting match 21–15.
In 1992 England B toured New Zealand, playing two ‘tests’ against a New Zealand second team that was called the ‘New Zealand XV’.
Modern marketing phased out the concept of ‘B’ games. In the 1990s they were replaced by ‘A’ internationals. The new concept was a marketers way of enticing the paying public to believe they are not seeing second-rate players in action.
So the short history of ‘B’ teams came to an end. Ironically, this was followed by the decision of many countries, led by Wales, for economic reasons, to not even field an ‘A’ team any more.
What is the difference in years between Joe Stanley playing his last test for New Zealand, and Jeremy Stanley being picked to become an All Black and emulate his father’s success?
What do you think?
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