intended behaviour change in 1.7rc1? can no longer set final variable in static initializer

class A {

  static final String foo;

  static {
    if (true) {
      foo = "roshan";
    } else {
      foo = "jochen";
    }
  }
}

org.codehaus.groovy.control.MultipleCompilationErrorsException: startup failed:
A.groovy: 7: cannnot access final field or property outside of constructor.
 @ line 7, column 7.
         foo = "roshan";
         ^

A.groovy: 9: cannnot access final field or property outside of constructor.
 @ line 9, column 7.
         foo = "jochen";
         ^

2 errors