The Suntory S27 Atlantipac Competition of 2020 has been outstanding success.
Divided into three conferences – Western (six teams from South Africa and three teams from Argentina), Central (six teams from Australia and three teams from Asia) and Eastern (six teams from New Zealand and three from the Americas), the final six to play in the Atlantipac finals are Southern Spears and Cordova Conquistadors from Western, the Cockatoos and Sanyo Samurai’s from Central, with the NZ Hawks and the LA Crushers from Eastern making up the final six.
Special mention has to be made of LA having made the finals for the first time.
They have to be congratulated for the blend of their team. Having developed a great rugby nursery in LA schools, the Crushers have also been able to recruit some considerable talent from the NFL.
The explosion of rugby in the US since they won the Rugby 7s at the 2015 Olympics has been amazing.
After a tough introduction to the Suntory, the Cockatoos from Australia have exceeded expectations by also making the finals for the first time, largely by tapping into the largest nursery of rugby players in Australia, including reaping the benefits of their indigenous rugby programs at Dubbo and Bourke.
The Southern Spears from South Africa are expected to do well. They have also been able access talent from their indigenous programs. Their expansive rugby and their try-scoring ability has been a highlight of the competition.
Rugby overall is reaping the benefits from its decision to reduce all kicks for goal to one point.
This has seen an explosion of both tries being scored and the number of yellow cards being handed out for cynical play.
However, the yellow card phenomena is viewed as being temporary as teams orient themselves to the new and entertaining try-scoring focus.
It has been a good year for Suntory Rugby with the explosion of rugby as a viewing priority for the Japanese and the east American television viewer markets. Suntory has recently committed to its multimillion dollar sponsorship of the tournament until 2025.
Let the finals begin.
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