With New Zealand sevens rugby still in shock over the ill-fated foot injury to talisman Sonny Bill Williams, a host of peer, pundits and fans alike have flooded in with messages of condolences and sympathy for the tri-discipline rugby player.
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Williams, wearing the black shirt of the country of his birth, barged into two Japanese tacklers nine minutes into his first match in Rio and ruptured his Achilles tendon.
The injury means the Wallabies are assured of facing a relatively inexperienced All Blacks centre combination in all three Bledisloe Cup Tests, with veterans Maa Nonu and Conrad Smith retired from global rugby after last year’s World Cup.
“It’s unbelievable, you never see a minnow team come here and beat a team supposed to be a gold medal contender”, said Japan’s New Zealand-born playmaker Lomano Lemeki. But injuries did not stop there, as Joe Webber also suffered a dislocated shoulder and was forced to keep playing due to the impossibility of replacement, leading the team to a hard defeat by just two points.
The stadium was rocked as New Zealand were stunned by Japan.
New Zealand regained some confidence after its bad start with a 28-5 win over Kenya, which opened with a 31-7 loss to Britain.
“We’ve got a chance to get into the quarters tomorrow”, Tietjens said. “The guys bounced back with a lot of character against Kenya”.
While the outcome of this commendable venture is bitterly disappointing; even though Williams will not allow it seem as such, massive credit must go to the man who has now competed professionally and at the highest echelon of all three disciplines of the game of rugby.
All Blacks hooker and Hurricanes captain Dane Coles told Stuff that he is confident whoever is called in to replace Williams will make the “step up”.
Tietjens said Japan showed against his team and in the narrow 21-19 loss to Britain that the competition was intense for the medals.
Making it more memorable, it was the first day in 92 years of men’s rugby competition at the Summer Games.
“They’re a good team”. “He’s very infectious, he certainly helps the younger players and he’s got a great work ethic”.
The move upset many traditionalists who say the All Blacks title should only be bestowed on our 15-man side and that national Sevens and Maori players don’t regard themselves as All Blacks unless they have represented New Zealand in that format.
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“It’s such a shame because he got to understand the game of sevens so well over the world series and for that to happen in the first game of the tournament was devastating”.
