A long and, until recently, prosperous summer of cricket was hurriedly pushed to the side last weekend, as rugby announced itself with a bloody magnificent bang for the new year.
The Sydney sevens promised a weekend of world-class action, and it was certainly hard to ignore the colours as hordes of people poured out of Central Station to walk up through Surry Hills to the Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday.
Ballerinas. Lawn bowlers. Blokes in full bodysuits (sans underwear, which I sadly cannot unsee). Fifteen – at least – guys and girls with a curious multicultural mix of Hawaiian shirts and Mexican sombreros.
It was amazing.
But the view at my hotel the next morning was something I could only smile about. Littered among the national strips of four nations other than Australia were people in Wallabies jerseys and shirts, plenty of Sydney 7s event t-shirts, and Australian Sevens gear.
And families! There were kids everywhere, to the point that I had to line up for the Coco Pops dispenser. It was simultaneously annoying and bloody excellent.
There were groups of mates, and a large group of Polynesian women laughing about guys and girls getting smashed into touch, but it was the family groups that really stood out. The TV pictures throughout the weekend highlighted just how many kids were there having a great time.
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The weekend was capped off by Australia picking up the double – and in superb style. The women beat New Zealand in the final 31-0, and the men did the same job on South Africa, stunning the series leaders 29-0 to claim their first cup in six seasons, and their first Australian title since 2002.
Both were dominant in their finals, but the women achieved their own part of history, becoming the first Sevens World Series side – women or men – to go through a whole tournament without conceding a point. 213 points for. Not one point against.
And how good was it to see the women’s side – some of them still in their playing kit – cheering on the men in their final, nearly five hours later?
It was fitting that Emma Tonegato scored the try to seal the final, after she lit the tournament up with a try that immediately brought back memories of David Campese at the height of his pomp and brilliance.
Running through to regather Alicia Quirk’s kick from inside the Australian 22 on Saturday morning, Tonegato was met by covering Spanish defender Patricia Garcia, who was way too deep in the last line. Tonegato stepped and swerved one way and then the other, all at top pace and without losing stride, before finally confusing Garcia once too often and racing away to score.
It was an instant highlight and should feature prominently in all Rugby Australia marketing this year.
Come the final against New Zealand, the pressure of the Australian defence was incredible, with at least two tries coming straight from forced turnovers.
Five Aussie women scored tries in the final, a wonderful sign of a side firing on all cylinders. Charlotte Caslick was the player of the final, but it could easily have been Quirk, Emily Cherry, Sharni Williams, Emma Sykes, or Tonegato herself. My Twitter followers might have noticed I became a bit of an Emma Tonegato fan over the weekend.
The men were every bit as good, and that’s not necessarily something we’ve been able to say a lot in recent times. The turning point of the final was Lachie Anderson’s outstanding, last-ditch covering tackle on Blitzbokke flyer Rosko Speckman, with the TMO ruling Spackman had a boot stud in touch half a nanosecond before grounding the ball over the line.
It was 0-0 at the time, after an intense first five minutes, but South Africa never fired a shot after that moment.
The Australians scored two converted tries in 90 seconds to take the halftime lead, scored again straight after the break, before Ben O’Donnell’s double sealed a second Australian win to cap off a magnificent weekend.
The challenge for Rugby Australia now – and especially the Super Rugby sides – is to cash in on what people have seen over the weekend, and start telling them where and when they can start seeing more of that kind of entertainment.
After everything Super Rugby went through in 2017, the goal now is to give people a reason to come and watch again.
That resumes in a fortnight, with the second edition of the Brisbane Tens needing to light up the Super Rugby teams in much the same way the Sydney 7s did.
This is the teams’ first chance to play for something meaningful in 2018 and prove to fans that all the emails and social media updates haven’t been for nothing. It’s an opportunity to prove that watching the competition this year will be worthwhile and not a chore.
But as the Sevens showed, it should be easy for the Tens to do that. It’s similarly fast-paced, but with genuine set-piece contests that can provide structure to the cut-down version of the game.
The Sydney 7s has done its bit to kick the season off, now it’s up to the Brisbane Tens to join the dots with the sides we know and will watch every weekend for the next six months.
So captivate us; launch the season in style. Let’s see the next step in proving that we learnt something from killing off the 2017 season before it got going.
ClarkeG
Guest
In 10s 3 front row players is the minimum. It is a team’s responsibility to ensure that all front-row players are suitably trained and experienced.
noone
Guest
Interesting reply, again. I did read it the first time but couldnt bother counter-replying, having had the discussion far too many times. cheers
Cuw
Guest
i dont know what is wrong with auzzy - but it was a real bummer that the event was not on streams !!!! it was strange to find cricket and tennis but no rugger DUH
Cuw
Guest
think the emergence of the boys - and the willingness of coaches to ditch the oldies is making many leave. i think most peeps got a shock when they dropped Savea for Ioane and sort of went with ALB in centers and not even considering someone like MOala... am not at all saying its a wrong thing , but at the end of the day these decisions send signals to those who watch and wait - like Shields for eg. who saw his chances gone once Vaea Fifita was fast tracked. am sure there will be many more with NZ coaches moving to EU.
Cuw
Guest
@ rebel " An extra days break between tournaments. Aus to NZ 5 days NZ to Aus 4 days " still dont make sense to me , unless men also played on day one. the women have had a month long break. if NZ came first dont matter coz there is no event for girls in NZ. men usually play on days 2-3 , so again makes no difference which leg came first. Dubai also play in the evenings on day one - mainly women and oldies play on that day.
Bakkies
Guest
Again you can't stick something on FTA when no network is willing to bid for the rights to televise it.
Bakkies
Guest
No different to 7s where they don't use trained props either.
noone
Guest
Had this conversation many times Bakkies. Personally consider it to be one of the major factors affecting rugby in Aust. No doubt plenty disagree
ClarkeG
Guest
Need them for the scrums.
Rugby Tragic
Roar Rookie
DaniE, watching the men's final live .. I was fearful for the Aussie up until kick-off. The game was so physical for the first 5 mins, I felt the Blitztbokke were very surprised and it threw them off their game. Like the women (though not as dominant as the fairer sex), I think defence won them the game. After the first 5 mins, I just sort of felt that SA wasn't in it. Good for Aussie Rugby but the SA side will come back ... possibly as early as this coming weekend in NZ though they have some injuries to cover.
Rugby Tragic
Roar Rookie
Brett, I watched the highlights on youtube again .. sure only about 4-5 mins but amazing skills was displayed by the Aussie women ... could not help but admire them ... they are many levels above other contenders of their gender .... 213- zip over the whole tournament! Never been done before and possible I will not be around to witness such a dominant performance again!! To keep Portia Woodman, not only tryless but by all accounts rendered her ineffective in the final dominated by the Aussie girls I think says plenty. In the highlights package, it looked like a professional unit taking on amateurs .... If AR does not use the team of champions in some form of rugby promotion then that, imo will show the world how inept they are.
Rugby Tragic
Roar Rookie
Hi Muz, to me 2018 is going to be a very interesting year following an unsettled 2017 with so many injuries and other not available, at least at the higher level. I think the stand outs are pretty obvious in the NZ Conference with the Crusaders and Hurricanes ... The battle between Chiefs, 'Landers and Blues will be most interesting this year, key players in all squads have been lost as has coaches. From the perspective of the Auckland based franchise, Tana Umaga has had 2 years now (really 1 and 1/2 I guess as he inherited the team from Kirwan in 2016), 2018 is his 3rd year. If he is looking for higher honours in the near future, he needs to pull a couple of rabbits out of the hat this year. Actually when you look at it both the SA Conference and the Aussie Conference is also interesting. I think in SA, the Lions might not be the force they have been over the past 2 years with Ackerman gone. The Sharks and Stormers are looking a lot stronger than 2017. The same applies to Aussie, I suppose the Brumbies will be there when the whips are cracking, Rebels are a bit of an unknown but with Wessels gaining the support of the better players from the Force, they must be must stronger than 2017. Reds will be the smokey I think in Aussie ... but mate we shall see ... It all starts again in 3 weeks
Rugby Tragic
Roar Rookie
Cuw, yep read that myself ... Charlie Ngatai, has been most unfortunate with injuries. I reckon might have been a solide AB but for his concussion issues and to be honest, I was 'sort of hoping' that he would be a smokey this year as the guy has talent in spades. Yes we have lost a few mid-fielders but it happens to be an area in which we have been blessed. SBW, Crotty, ALB, Lumape, Goodhue, possibly R Ioane and that is just the high profile players. We can only ever have two in the ground at any one time.
rebel
Guest
An extra days break between tournaments. Aus to NZ 5 days NZ to Aus 4 days
rebel
Guest
Aware of all that, as there is a myriad of reasons. Which is why we shouldn't jump on one thing. It's like politicians saying they won an election because of A, when in fact it could have been anything from A to Z depending on different people.
Bakkies
Guest
Fiji got smacked in the quarters that usually reduces the crowd.
Bakkies
Guest
Brett is right for it to be on FTA they have to be interested in purchasing the rights.
Bakkies
Guest
Australia generally doesn't have consistency in 7s due to turn over of players and the stalwarts lack the pace that rival teams have.
Bakkies
Guest
Don't get props playing 10s at all.
Bakkies
Guest
Some three day events play the Friday matches on at night. Vegas have done that in the past. They have other tournaments that use the main stadium during the three days.