News » he had fond memories of his last encounter with his pr

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Great Britains mens rugby team will return home with a silver medal to their name and given their less than ideal build up to the Games, it is a remarkable achievement.While they were comfortably beaten in the final, the margin of defeat should not detract from what had gone before. Fiji would have beaten a world sevens dream team with that sort of performance.Heading into the Olympic Games Great Britain were an unknown quantity with form and logic weighing against their favour, yet here in Rio they found an inner belief forged from squad unity and a game plan built on sheer bloody-mindedness.The players only had four tournaments together before the Games after a World Rugby Sevens Series competing under the separate flags of England, Wales and Scotland.After meeting in May as a squad of 25, this was then whittled down to a squad featuring eight players from England, two from Wales and two from Scotland. It was a party drawing on the best resources available to coach Simon Amor and he deserves huge credit for the work done on the training pitch to bring this silver-medal charge together.I am so proud of my boys, Amor said. They gave so much, every single time, and unfortunately the last game was just one too many, but I have never seen a team play with such heart and fight.It has been amazing. We always knew we would have 10 weeks to make this work, and we had a lot of rugby in the build-up. It has been an interesting journey. We knew we had talent, and the team spirit was extraordinary.Unlike New Zealand, who had Sonny Bill Williams in their squad, and South Africa, who had a long look at Bryan Habana but eventually decided against bringing him to Rio, Great Britain did not have the scope to call on players like George North or Christian Wade. Scotlands Mark Bennett was the only capped 15s international in their squad and there was a feeling this would cost them.But instead they laughed in the face of the doubters. Before the start of the tournament USA coach Mike Friday said GBs point of difference was their guile and in captain Tom Mitchell they had one of the players of the tournament. The sweeper kept the whole squad ticking over, popping up at key moments to unleash quicker players, such as Dan Norton or Marcus Watson.Mitchell is a hugely impressive individual but around him were a group who had been thrown together, in the best sense of the phrase, to win a medal. Cross-nationality friendships were forged -- James Davies and Ollie Lindsay-Hague dubbed themselves the cub and the swan. That unity translated into performances on the pitch.After beating Kenya and Japan, they put in their best half of rugby across the three days by running up a 21-0 lead over New Zealand at halftime. They eventually won by a couple of points but then came their quarterfinal against Argentina which was locked at 0-0 at full time. After a Mitchell penalty sailed wide in extra time, Dan Bibbys try, in the fourth minute of added on time, eventually booked their place in the final four. They didnt lose focus.Against South Africa they were forced to work on a gameplan marrying resolute defence and counter-attacking rugby with Nortons try one of the best youll see. They dug in resolutely at the end to win 7-5. It was emblematic of the feeling within the group.In the final they came unstuck but Ben Ryans side put together, by his own admission, their best performance since he took the job almost three years ago. No team could have handled them but as Great Britain stood on the podium, they were united.We showed a never-say-die attitude, said Davies. We have shown it in so many games.It just sums us up as a group of players: just grinding out those wins. A team that doesnt play very well but puts in those wins is a sign of a great team. Look at these 12 [players] and that is a great team.It bodes well for this group. Itd be wonderful to see a composite Team GB team compete on the World Series next year but that is one for the various powers that be.Tonight they will feel that small pang of sadness at having lost the final but can feel hugely proud of everything they have achieved.Everyone has worked so hard, and it has been an amazing journey. It is a nice little way to finish it with a silver medal, Mitchell said. There were those who thought we wouldnt do so well out here, and we knew we had to come here and scrap. We knew it was about working hard.The silver medal is just reward for their remarkable effort. Cheap Air Max 95 Wholesale . - The Washington Redskins have cut defensive lineman Adam Carriker and punter Sav Rocca. Nike Air Max 95 Sale Outlet . - Goaltender Philippe Desrosiers of the Rimouski Oceanic has broken a shutout record that was only three months old in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. http://www.airmax95wholesale.com/ . -- Patrick Reed got an early start in golf. Air Max 95 Cheap Sale .S District Court against Major League Baseball, the Office of the Commissioner and his own union, the MLBPA. Cheap Nike Air Max 95 Outlet .Y. -- Sabres forward Drew Stafford has witnessed plenty of turmoil during his eight seasons in Buffalo. Brent Harveys flag-winning teammate of years past, Mick Martyn, isnt surprised the little forward is yet to hang up the boots.And if you told him in 1999 that Boomer would go on to break the AFLs all-time games record this weekend, he would have nodded along.Martyn said it was quickly apparent to him the skinny teenager drafted to North Melbourne in the 1995 draft had a studious nature and a ferocious work ethic.He came into a good team and did all the disciplined things, Martyn told AAP.Hed go into the gym and work hard. Pound for pound he was one of the strongest at the club.He had all these attributes and he learned a lot from a team at the time that was on top.Martyn, now 47, is also pulling on a guernsey at a late age.But Harvey isnt the inspiration.Its prostate cancer research, the cause behind the EJ Whitten match to take place on September 2.Hell line up in the Victorian back line, which will be kept busy by a string of All-Australian forwards to turrn out for the All Stars; Cam Mooney, Matthew Richardson, Nick Holland, Scott Cummings and another of his 1999 premiership team-mates, Wayne Carey.ddddddddddddartyn said he had fond memories of his last encounter with his premiership captain in the charity match.We lined up together. I bowled him over the boundary line and he didnt take too kindly to that, he laughed.Hes always been about 10 kilos lighter than me and I was about 20 kilos heavier then.The pre-match training has begun, including a self-imposed beer ban to shift a few kilos before the date.And he said thered be a spot waiting in the Victorian side when Boomer decides playing 22 matches a season is 21 too many.They say that when you finish playing footy you shouldnt go back ... but Im always a fan of the E.J. Whitten game, he said.Youve got the next month to recover. China NFL Jerseys Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys NFL Jerseys Cheap Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap Basketball Jerseys Online Stitched Hockey Jerseys Wholesale Baseball Jerseys Football Jerseys Outlet College Jerseys For Sale Cheap MLB Jerseys Wholesale Soccer Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys For Sale Wholesale NFL Jerseys ' ' '