Sydney takes over from Gold Coast as Sevens host

Very well said. Well hopefully that same mistake with Sydney 7s won't happen!!

The ARU could not care less about the Gold Coast and the attitude of the organisation was on full display through their lack of promotion for anything rugby on the GC. Prior to the Wallabies Test v Argentina only die hard rugby supporters would of known it was on let alone who Australia was actually playing. There was next to no publicity for that match at all. No signage around town and no real community engagement in the region. They rolled up for the obligatory photo on the beach out the front of Q1 and then on to game day! Unfortunately the chance of any walk up crowd was knocked out by a late afternoon QLD deluge of rain about half hour prior to kick off. What was the ARU response from Pulver? Well if they GC don't turn up and support the game we will move the tests elsewhere. Excellent way of ensuring the 6th largest city in Australia ignores the game further. Would love to see them bring South Africa to the GC - plenty of expats both here and in Brisbane and you would get a solid crowd for that. At the moment it seems they are content to keep playing South Africa at Subiaco Oval regardless of the crowd size. Rugby Sevens same issue with publicity as the Test Match, coupled with the fact that no one would be able to name one player that represents Australia. How about building some awareness of who is in the team with stories in the GC Bulletin? How about some publicity around town to ensure people know when it is coming? Anyway its off to Sydney and will more than likely stay there for the foreseeable future. If the ARU ever get around to wondering why RU has slipped to fourth in the battle of the football codes maybe they need to get out of Sydney occasionally and stop paying lip service to every other metro centre in AUS while at the same time expecting people to flock through the gates for Wallabies tests.

It's about time Sydney got it should bring in a good crowd

+ 1

At least the aru may advertise the event now it is in Sydney, they never bothered running any marketing on the Gold Coast

Rugger you left out Kieren Reid.

Sharminator Do not agree with your logic. 7s made Jonah Lomu, Liam Messah and Cory Jane the player they are. Yes its got development aspect to it but over period of time both will have its own pathways and compliment each other not to mention pool of money. If anything ARU has been very reluctant to embrace 7s rugby hence lack of pathways. If cricket Australia can develop BIG BASH out of less successful Twenty 20 cricket, why cannot ARU develop local 7s series instead of relying on IRB 7s series to grow the game. Answer is because ARU does not have vision and foresight that IRB has in using 7s rugby as vehicle for growth, participation.

IMO our world sevens leg shouldn't be a tournament to 'spread the game.' The ARU should be trying to turn it into a genuine major event and Sydney provides the best chance of achieving that. Sydney is the most important market for rugby and it needs events like this to compete with the other codes. Though I think there is some chance to spread the game by playing it in Sydney. It should appeal to a broader demographic than the traditional rugby supporter base. Younger and more multicultural.

And has nothing to do with Sydney folk not fronting up to major events

Underwhelmed at this news. Hope Sydney does host the tournament well, but as an Australian rugby fan this does nothing to spread the game. Gold Coast was awfully promoted, but Robina is just a difficult stadium to get to in a city that is made up of people from "somewhere else", dependent on itinerant tourists rather than home-grown support. AFL is stronger there realistically. Melbourne would have promoted it well and does sport exceptionally well. The off-field entertainment, transport, dining, etc is world class. Sydney has many of these things, but will do little to lift rugby profile and will struggle to get people to travel through Sydney traffic/public transport. Hope it works, but I am doubtful. Ballymore was a fantastic tournament, it is a wonderful ground but the stadium would need a lot of work to compete with HK, Twickers, Dubar or even Las Vegas - just won't happen. Suncorp could host it very well. Hope we still have a tournament in 3 years time...

@Sharminator. Rugby might seem like a 90 minute game sometimes; but it is still two 40 minute halves. 80 minutes. You are correct about everything else though. Sevens is all but a separate sport now. There would be gold in an international sevens big bash circus, changing the rules slightly, and competing with World Rugby Sevens. If entrepreneurs were still interested in rugby.... I think the entrepreneurs have moved on to other sports now. That's partly why there is so little innovative thinking in rugby now and its going stale on and off the pitch. Sad actually.

I'm not the one with the need to sling sh' at every opportunity. 2 winning seasons and into their third, yet struggling to get 10 grand to the game on a 20+ degree night. People in glass houses and all that.

The problem with 7´s is that it has evolved into a different sport to XV a side rugby. In the hey days of rugby 7´s in the 1990´s, when everybody in the rugby world took notice of the Hong Kong 7´s, the 7´s teams had 15´s stars such as Campese, Lomu, Gregan etc, the best RUGBY players in the world at the time. These days 7´s rugby is seen as a development program by most major nations, who use it to blood younger players and see how they cope in a professional environment, and who, if they do well, go on to full time contracts with cubs or provinces in 15s. There are some exceptions, veterans who stick to 7s like DJ Forbes from New Zealand, but the point is, if he was a good enough to be a 15´s player un a Super 15 side, he probably would have switched. The negative of 7´S is that it has become very specialised, and it is now a different game, especially in regard to fitness requirements, with several 14 minute games in one day, instead of a 90 minute game once a week, and the need for explosive speed, and risk taking to score in a few minutes, instead of the endurance, patience and strategy needed in a 90 minute game. From a players point of view, I dont think there is any player who would prefer to play rugby 7´s for their country rather than 15´s, and most 7´s players would prefer a starting spot in a 15´s club or province, than a national 7´s contract. The big money for players is also en Xvs rather than 7s. Maybe the attraction of the Olympics will be a draw for 15s players once every 4 years, but unfortuately if the best players in world rugby prefer 15´s, 7´s is never going to be a huge drawcard or have a big media presence if it doesnt include the best players in the world, or household rugby names. Players like Folau could be awesome 7s players, but would you want to sacrafice him from the Waratahs and Wallabies for a year to speacialiste in 7s? Probably not.

True but Alliance is bigger than the Gold Coast but I see what your saying. The Sydney 7s could have also been played at Parramatta Stadium in its first year as capacity is perfect is not to big or small & its a great way for the ARU to see how attendances pan out. Parramatta does have surrounding infrastructure as in hotels, night clubs, Restaurants & transport. But with a huge Olympic event like Rugby 7s the ARU has made the right move to Alliance & I'm confident NSW Government & the ARU can deliver I definitely be there when it happens!!

A case of been there done that. Ballymore was the first venue to host the leg and it was taken away from Australia.

So go on and do tell why you think that Sydney isn't the apathy capital?

The Adelaide Baseball Stadium at 50,000 is far too big in capacity to risk hosting it there again.

Yeah I agree but now with Adelaide oval newly rebuilt who knows it might have been a lot different second time around. No one knows what Sydney would bring but it was definitely the right move. The ARU now just need to be aggressive in promoting the event as Sydney has the potential to rival Hong Kong, Dubai etc Rugby definitely needs this in Australia.

Adelaide had the Aus Sevens prior to the Gold Coast. I enjoyed the tournament, and Adelaide Oval is just a short walk from the Adelaide CBD and central station. But the crowd numbers and promotion of the event were lacking as badly as in the Gold Coast.

That's a lot of innovation for the ARU to cope with all at once!