Friday sees the start of the 2018 Rugby Sevens World Cup in San Francisco. It’s the seventh time the men’s tournament has been held, and the third time for the women’s.
A schedule adjustment following the debut of Sevens at the 2016 Rio Olympics means it is five years since the last World Cup in Moscow, where New Zealand won both titles.
After rugby was accepted into the Olympics, World Rugby considered ditching the sevens World Cup. The HSBC Sevens series is already made up of national sides, and the Commonwealth Games includes many of the top teams, so there are a number of competing international titles.
It has been kept in the calendar however. Not that you’d know that from the paucity of coverage the event has so far received.
There’s no doubt many rugby supporters are indifferent to the shorter code. As it has become more specialised, there is less overlap with fifteens, and many sevens stars are unknown, outside followers of the regular circuit.
San Francisco 2018 is also competing for attention while the World Cup Football and Wimbledon have dominated sporting headlines. In the North, this is the off-season for rugby, and most journalists are on holiday.
Podcasts are a regular part of the media diet these days but only one of the main English offerings – Eggchasers – continues around the year, and they have talked more about TV show Love Island than the Rugby Sevens World Cup.
The North actually has a decent track record in sevens compared with fifteens. England won the first World Cup, and made the final in Moscow. Scotland have won rounds on the HSBC sevens circuit, and a Scotsman coaches the New Zealand sevens team.
Wales won the 2009 Cup, a Welshman currently coaches Fiji, and yet there’s hardly a mention of the upcoming tournament on Welsh rugby sites, which usually seize on any small crumb of good news for sport in the principality.
In the southern hemisphere, the rugby season is still underway, so journalists are on active duty. Nevertheless, sevens coverage is thin on the ground and this priority event this weekend will be Super Rugby quarter-finals.This is a poor state of affairs for an event which is supposed to be a centerpiece for the sport.
It’s a conundrum for World Rugby. Sevens is a major way for the sport to promote itself around the world. There’s a lot at stake this year, since the Cup is being held in America, and there are big hopes a successful tournament will help rugby gain more traction in the US.
There are some good stories to tell about sevens too. The last HSBC Sevens went down to the wire. South Africa got off to a solid start and then Fiji went on a blazing run, sweeping all before them. They seemed certain to take the title but tripped up in the last round, and handed the Blitzbokke a late chance to pip them for the title, which they eagerly seized.
While it was a two-horse race for the title, other teams showed good form during the season. New Zealand, Australia, and USA all won rounds, and there will be big hopes that USA puts in a good show in San Francisco, to keep the home crowd engaged.
After a poor Rio Olympics, New Zealand have been getting back to the form which once saw them dominate sevens. They are defending champions, and recently defeated other major title contenders at the Commonwealth games. Australia went off the boil last season but finished fourth in the rankings this year,
The other theme in sevens is the growing competitiveness of teams which were once cannon fodder. In the last three seasons, Canada, Scotland, Samoa and Kenya have all won titles on the circuit.
Meanwhile, Argentina made the finals twice, and is now regarded as a difficult opponent. France and Ireland have started to take sevens more seriously: Ireland notched up a third place at Twickenham, defeating England and USA along the way. Even an inconsistent side like Spain can trouble higher ranked teams. They have managed victories over USA and Australia on more than one occasion.
This will be particularly important in San Francisco, since there is no pool play. In a typical sevens circuit tournament, 16 teams play in four pools, with the top eight going on to knock-out rounds for the Cup.
Fiji players and staff huddle after winning their gold medal. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
This year’s World Cup will see 24 teams competing. The top eight seeds get a bye for the first round, while the remaining sixteen teams play in do-or-die matches. The eight winners will then meet the top eight seeds in another round of knock-out games. Lose a game at the Cup this year, and you’ll be out of the title race.
Some, like USA coach Mike Friday, believe this turns the tournament into too much of a lottery. Others, like former Fiji coach Ben Ryan, welcome the new format as a good commercial move. For a casual sevens spectator, there are probably too many matches during the day with not enough at stake.
There could well be upsets. The first game South Africa will play will likely be against Ireland, who ought to be able to beat Chile.
South Africa would still be heavy favourites and yet they could get caught cold by a team which featured well as an invitation side on the last two rounds of the circuit. After all, New Zealand got beaten by Japan at the Rio Olympics.
All this is without mention of the Women’s tournament, where Australia are the current Sevens circuit champions. Excitement over womens rugby sevens has cooled a little in Australia since the Olympic gold.
There were high hopes for a repeat on home soil at the Commonwealth Games but New Zealand spoiled the party. Still, Australia remains a leading contender for a second World cup title this year.
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
Samoan player Gordon Langkilde is apparently still in police custody following his post-match assault of Welsh players on Saturday. UK Daily Telegraph says he attacked two players, and injured a third: "The 22-year-old is accused of assaulting two Welsh players after the clash between the sides at AT&T Park on Saturday afternoon erupted into violence at the final whistle. Wales won the game 24-19 thanks to a golden point try scored by Tom Williams, but as the two teams departed the field and went into the tunnel, things are alleged to have turned sour. "San Francisco Police confirmed Langkilde is accused of assaulting two Wales players, a 26-year-old who suffered facial injuries and a 21-year-old who has broken facial bones. "A third victim, a 24-year-old from Wales, also suffered facial injuries during the incident. It is understood the Wales players are Williams, Luke Morgan, and Ben Roach. Williams was left covered in blood by the incident and is believed to have had his nose and cheek bone broken." The Welsh players want to prosecute. They don't believe there was anything in the match to warrant any hostility, let alone the violence which erupted. With the Mafi arrest and the other Rebel's assaults in the news too, World Rugby will also need to act.
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
This is the Men's Dream Team for the tournament Phil Burgess (ENG) Harry Glover (ENG) Tom Mitchell (ENG) Dylan Collier (NZ) Joe Ravouvou (NZ) Tavite Veredamu (FRA) Josefa Lilidamu (JPN) There are no South Africans or Fijians in the side, although the last three players on the list were all born in Fiji. Last week, you'd have got long odds on no-one from the top two sides in Sevens making the list. Harry Glover was also named Breakthrough Player of the tournament. He's the youngest member of the England squad, and his ability to regain restarts was a real asset. Jordan Conroy of Ireland grabbed a lot or headlines, and outshone more high profile speed merchants like Baker, Isles and Norton. He would have been a contender for Breakthrough Player but his defence probably needs more work. Happy to see Tom Mitchell named in the Dream Team. Ben Ryan always says he would walk into any Sevens side in the world, and he showed in San Francisco that he's one of the best tacticians in the code. The way he marshalled his team was reminiscent of Waisale Serevi at his best.
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
Fiji and South Africa looked so good in their first two matches, it seemed they'd have too much for everyone. New Zealand took a little while to get into their stride but, when they did, looked formidable. Joe Ravouvou had a great tournament.
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
There was an ugly incident at the Cup on Saturday. Wales beat Samoa in extra time and, in the tunnel after the match, Gordon Langkilde of Samoa assaulted Tom Williams. The Welshman was unable to play the next day. Langkilde was immediately suspended by World Rugby, and it appears police might also be investigating the incident. Williams may not have been the only Welsh player assaulted. https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-union/international/rugby-world-cup-sevens-2018-wales-player-tom-williams-injured-assault-samoa-gordon-langkilde-a8459306.html
taylorman
Roar Guru
Nice, now double double champs in sevens and 15’s, mens and womens, cant ask for more than that.
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
New Zealand are champions, with a comfortable 33-12 win over England in the final. England looked nervous early on, which handed the initiative to the All Black Sevens, and they could never get it back. New Zealand stole a number of England lineouts, which denied them key possession. It was a similar pattern to the way New Zealand beat Fiji, and, for that matter, the way England themselves beat South Africa. Elsewhere, USA looked too over-eager against Argentina, and were punished. Both sides reminded me a little of the way they played in Rio. Argentina are shaping up as a deadly efficient sevens side, while USA will have to rethink why they seem to lose their shape on big stages. A key moment came when they had possession at 12-0 down but with Perry Baker still winding down his yellow card. Nothing was on, but instead of going into touch, and getting Baker back on, a US player elected to throw a wild offload, which Argentina collected and went 19-0 ahead at half time. Once Argentina got the first second-half score, there was no way back for USA. South Africa claimed a rare win over Fiji to take the bronze medal. Ben Ryan once said that a relaxed, smiling Fiji sevens team is unbeatable. They looked tense in San Francisco, and their two losses were littered with handling errors. before the tournament started, England probably would have preferred to face New Zealand, rather than Fiji in the final. On today's showing, Fiji might have been an easier proposition.
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
After missing out on Cup action by losing to France, the best hope for Australia was to win the Challenge Trophy (basically, the play-off for 9th and 10th place). There were good wins over Russia and Canada, but they have just lost out to Ireland. In the end, Australia lost to two traditional fifteens powers - France and Ireland - with ambitions to move up in the Sevens world. Ireland will be particularly happy, since they toppled Kenya, Wales & Australia, who all have a regular place on the HSBC Sevens circuit. That will be the next target for the Irish. France ran New Zealand close. That looks like a decent achievement now the Kiwis have made the final. However, their familiar inconsistency returned against Argentina, and they just threw away a chance to beat Scotland, in one of the most exciting matches of the day. France had pegged back Scotland's early lead, and gone 19-24 ahead, Then, with a minute and a half left in the game, one of their players was yellow-carded for kicking the ball away after a penalty, which is one of the dullest acts on a Sevens pitch. Scotland called a scrum, and used the overlap to level the scores. The match went into extra time, with France still a man down, and Scotland scored a length-of-the pitch try to win. Scotland finished in 7th place, and France in 8th.
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
Big turn-up as England beat South Africa 7-29 in the semi-final. The Blitzbokke are current Sevens series champions, and had been looking ruthlessly efficient. England managed to keep the ball away from them, and took just about every chance that fell their way. Meanwhile, New Zealand beat Fiji 17-22 in the other semi-final, which disappointed the crowd, and neutrals everywhere. Fiji kept losing the ball forward, which gifted too much possession to the Kiwis. The final will be a repeat of the last World Cup, which New Zealand won handily. If they can beat England again this year, then New Zealand will have both the Mens and Womens World Cup titles, to go with the double they won this year at the Commonwealth Games.
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
England just broke the hearts of the home crowd by beating USA with an extra-time golden point winner. South Africa and Fiji were easy winners, while New Zealand are the other semi-finalist, after France ran them close. Australia's women lost to France, just as the men did yesterday. USA women went down 26-21 to New Zealand, so they will have to take on Australia for third place, while France and New Zealand contest the women's final. In other Saturday games, Chile beat Tonga, which isn't a result you'd have expected to see a few years ago. Ireland beat Kenya, showing better form than they did against South Africa.
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
You can't throw the ball away in Sevens. Teams almost always want to use possession quickly - Scotland were way down on the scoreboard, so definitely did - so it is routine to get a yellow card if the officials think you did that. Likewise, taking a player out off the ball in a scoring situation is a standard penalty try and yellow card offence.
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
Bad news for Australia, who were beaten 17-22 by France. England beat Samoa 19-15 but they were helped a great deal by a red card to Samoa, which was the result of two yellow card offences. The Samoan player was distraught, and you have to say the game would have been in the balance.
In Brief
Guest
Just saw Kenya lose two players to the bin for very dubious indiscretions. The first one an absolute joke. Turned it off and won't be watching any more 7s for a very long time. The sport is a bigger joke than 15s.
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
All the first round matches went much as form might have expected, PNG ran Canada close, but lost 29-21. While Ireland dealt with Chile, the 17-12 scoreline wasn't as comfortable as they would have hoped. The next eight matches look like this, then: Scotland vs Kenya Argentina vs Canada Australia vs France England vs Samoa New Zealand vs Russia Fiji vs Japan South Africa vs Ireland USA vs Wales
Rugby Fan
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95,000 tickets have been sold for the event so far, including all the three-day tickets. A lot of pundits on the Sevens circuit appear to be favouring Fiji for the win. Ben Ryan has picked out Semi Kunatani ("the Beast") as a man to watch.
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
Exactly. One year out from the Olympics, the NZRU suddenly realized Malakai Fekitoa, Waisake Naholo and David Raikuna had no New Zealand passports, and would not have the necessary five year residency to apply. Don't know if any of them eventually got passports but they didn't go to Rio. For the major rugby nations, Olympic eligibility is unlikely to be an issue in the future, It became one in Rio, because the requirement was only recognized at a late date. For the likes of Hong Kong and Japan, however, it will likely be ongoing. The prize of playing on the HSBC sevens circuit (with less stringent eligibility standards) is rich enough for them to play their strongest sides, regardless of whether all the players are Olympic-qualified. Indeed, Japan beat Germany to win a regular place on next season's sevens circuit with a similar squad to the one going to San Francisco this weekend. We won't know until much closer to 2020 whether these smaller unions have managed to encourage players to naturalize, or if they'll need to select different squads for the Tokyo Olympics to the ones which usually appear in other sevens events.
terrence
Guest
the nz side also has a good mix of samoans, fijians and tongans..
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
"no need to preach to the converted" I don't think the broader rugby public is converted to sevens, however. You can see that by the lack of coverage. This isn't a US leg on the HSBC Sevens circuit, it's the Sevens World Cup. The football World Cup wasn't limited to coverage in Russia, and next year's rugby World Cup won't be limited to coverage in Japan. There are simple things which aren't being done well. The tournament starts on Friday, and yet the official website for the event still has no details of who has been named in the squads. The pages are all set up, but there's nothing behind the tabs. Sevens is a way to get kids into the sport. It's especially valuable when we have so many headlines about concussion, dangerous tackles, and leading players retiring early through injury. I'll enjoy the occasion anyway. However, Moscow was a missed opportunity five years ago, so it will be a shame if rugby doesn't take full advantage of the platform we have this weekend.
terrence
Guest
doubt world rugby really cares about those media outlets outside the US..the objective of the world cup this weekend is to promote rugby in the US..no need to preach to the converted..
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
I'm talking about coverage in the places which usually cover international rugby, such as NZ Herald, the SMH, UK Daily Telegraph, L'Equipe, Walesonline, Irish Times, Sport24 etc. The South African coverage has been quite good, but it's mostly cursory stuff elsewhere. I understand that many rugby supporters are ambivalent at best about sevens but tent pole tournaments ought to be an opportunity to generate more engagement for the sport overall, not just in the host country. I'm confident that the event in San Francisco will be well-attended, but I'd wager there's a large part of the rugby public ignorant of the fact there's a World Cup due this weekend. Even those who do know probably don't have much of a sense of who the form teams might be. If you build momentum up to an event, then you get a lot more carry-over into increasing participation, and enthusiasm for events at all age groups. Sevens got far more in-depth coverage ahead of the Olympics than we are seeing ahead of this World Cup.
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
Japan has announced its squads for San Francisco. They also got tripped up with Olympic eligibility for Rio, with two players applying for passports that didn't get granted in time. Nevertheless, the men's side did creditably, scoring a shock win over New Zealand, and running England close. Their women's squad looks to be all Olympic qualified but the men's side includes NZ born Joe Kamana; Fijians Josefa Lilidamu, Jose Seru & Jone Naikabula; and Tongan Tevita Tupou. To the best of my knowledge, none of them have yet naturalized, although all have probably lived in Japan long enough to do so. Fiji born veteran Kameli Raravou Soejima is also going. He was one of three naturalized players to make the Olympic squad in Rio. Japan is guaranteed an Olympic sevens spot, so, if someone hasn't naturalized yet, then they either don't wish to, or want to get bit closer to the Games to see if they are likely to be selected.