have not proved plain sailing for the Test stars aiming to

Attitude is everything. At Test match level you can talk about all sorts of game plans but it comes down to 15 players having the right attitude to go out to implement what they have trained all their lives to do. And that was missing in Chicago for the All Blacks.Going into their review about what went wrong, I think those inside the All Blacks environment will put their hands up and admit that, two years ago, going to Chicago and having such a great time in the party atmosphere before taking on the United States and thrashing them, probably had some psychological connection with their performance this time around in the Windy City.Ireland had so much to play for in front of a lot of Irish immigrants who live in Chicago - it was actually like a home away from home for them. For the fans who came out, it was a huge, huge occasion. I even went out and purchased some Guinness to share in the event.Hats off to Ireland. Well done, they were clearly the better team on the day. They deserved that win and to get the monkey off their back of never having beaten the All Blacks is such a good thing, now they can go into a game without that doubt.We need rugby to be on a level playing field where any team can lose and any team can win, and it just gets rid of that invincibility tag where Ireland have always looked at the All Blacks as being invincible. Now there are players who have beaten the All Blacks and they know they can beat them, and the confidence of knowing that is a really good thing.Its cant be just Australia and South Africa, and occasionally England every 10 years, who can beat the All Blacks. We want everyone to be close enough so that every now and then there is a close battle. What Ireland has achieved is a good thing for world rugby.I have to say I watched the haka and cringed. Someone didnt do their homework in the All Blacks camp. Knowing a little bit about the Irish mentality and having had a 64-Test cap veteran and ex-Munster coach Anthony Foley die recently, with all the players wearing black armbands and having a moments silence for him before the game, and knowing what that meant to the Irish team and the public, I thought pulling out the Kapa?O Pango haka was disrespectful.Ive been to funerals and you do the Ka Mate haka to honour a warrior and it is different to doing the battle cry, or war cry, of Kapa O Pango which is a more aggressive challenge.I thought, you guys havent done your research here, you havent actually thought through the process. Its not a case of not backing themselves, they are the All Blacks and they should back themselves. But it is being respectful and I thought the haka choice was disrespectful.From that moment after the haka, the Irish normally spill over the top, the adrenaline gets to them and they do something stupid. Its almost like they had a composure about them this time and normally you just dont see that in an Irish team. As a result, I wonder if part of their strategy was to slow the game down.It was a case of the All Blacks are fitter than us, there were injuries all the time. Every opportunity they had the game stopped and things were slowed down and they went at their pace. And they dictated that and took away that whole fitness element around the All Blacks.Im not saying this was cheating. It was a good, really well thought out tactic and the Irish went out and took it to the All Blacks. They were more physical than we were, they starved us of the ball and they punished us for not starting two decent lineout locks -- it was their day.Wholesale Shoes Black Friday . -- If this was Aaron Gordons final home game at Arizona, and it almost certainly was, then he went out in style. Discount Shoes Black Friday . 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Every sport has officials and they also have stories about hard work and sacrifice but their accomplishments are seldom recognized by anyone outside their inner circle.Brian ODriscoll believes Olympics fever can eventually catapult Rugby Sevens onto a par with the 15-man game.Former Ireland and British and Irish Lions captain ODriscoll has tipped Sevens to one day sit alongside rugbys traditional format.Sevens will make its Olympic debut in the summers Rio Games and a new report highlighting rugbys future predicts rapid growth for the sports short format incarnation in the next 10 years. Banking giants HSBC and strategic planning consultancy The Futures Company have published The Future of Rugby, a report predicting the sports global participation to double in the next decade.With the market and the eyes that will see Sevens for the first time because of the Olympics, the sport has the potential for exponential growth, said ODriscoll.Sevens should grow into new areas, places in Asia like China, to grow far more in the United States as well.It can grow alongside the 15s game, I dont think it will replace it, but I definitely think it has the scope to be as big as the 15s game is currently. Simon Amor looks ahead to the Hong Kong stop of the HSBC World Sevens Series Global governing body World Rugby rates rugby unions current worldwide participation figures at 7.2 million. This new report projects that figure climbing to 15m by 2026.Women are also expected to account for 40 per cent of the worlds active rugby players in 10 years time.The coaching mastermind of Englands 2003 World Cup triumph Sir Clive Woodward has branded Sevens as rugbys sleeping giant in the report, while former dual-code star Jason Robinson predicted rugby league players may in future convert specifically to Sevens as opposed to simply rugby union.ODriscoll won 141 Test caps across 15 years with Ireland and the Lions but despite his numerous accolades he now admits pangs of jealousy seeing current top stars chasing the Olympic dream.The report claims Sevens could even boast franchise-based short tournaments in 10 years, creating rugbys answer to crickets Indian Premier League (IPL) or Australias Big Bash. Could Sevens become rugbys answer to Twenty20? ODriscoll believes Sevens must still prove its global appeal in Rio before realising such lofty aims, but admitted to excitement at the notion of a fast-growing discipline that ccould offer rugby an equivalent to crickets increasingly popular Twenty20 concept.ddddddddddddIm not a cricket connoisseur by any stretch but its hard not to like Twenty20, its exciting and fast, said ODriscoll. Its exactly what Sevens rugby is delivering - its fast, its exciting and it creates a huge party atmosphere.I think theres definitely potential for that. We have to get by the first Olympics first though.Im very excited about seeing rugby in the Olympics, but we have to just allow it to evolve afterwards. Quade Cooper scored his first Sevens try against England in Las Vegas New Zealands World Cup-winning centre Sonny Bill Williams and Australia fly-half Quade Cooper are just two superstars from 15s bidding to make the Sevens switch in time for the Olympics.Assimilating into Sevens lung-busting fitness and tactical nuance have not proved plain sailing for the Test stars aiming to make the conversion, and ODriscoll believes that only underscores the formats strength.The carrot of an Olympic gold later this year, thats luring a number of players from the 15s game, said ODriscoll. Sonny Bill returns for NZ All Blacks star is fighting fit after a knee injury Sonny Bill is unique in trying to cover every sport and medal going. So you wouldnt bet against him being in the mix with the All Blacks come August.Not all of those players coming from 15s have slotted in seamlessly. Its a different type of athlete, fitness and skill set and understanding of how the game works.Probably a lot of Sevens players have had a wry smile on their faces when theyve seen some 15s players not having a seamless transition across. The big names arent certainties within their national squads because of the quality of players who are already there. And thats a great thing too.The profile of players coming from 15s is brilliant. But it puts in perspective just how good these Sevens players are.Watch the Hong Kong Sevens live on Sky Sports this weekend, starting on Friday at 5.50am on Sky Sports 2 HD.Also See:WATCH: Amor eyes Hong Kong successWilliams back for New ZealandEngland Womens travel blogRugby on Sky ' ' '