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As the IRB rugby sevens circuit hits Hong Kong and Adelaide over the next two weeks, now is a good time to evaluate the…
Only issue I have with that is NZ and Aus will likely get the two spots from Oceania, leaving no spots for the islands. I think one of the original points the IRB marketed to the IOC was sevens popularity in the Pacific, in countries which have had little representation in the Olympics in the past. In addition Samoa and Fiji are two of the three traditional powerhouses in sevens, at least for the last ten years. I think Oceania 3, Asia 1.
Rugby's Olympic chance could be lost
The Australian team on the circuit is a specialised team and frankly they’re just not very good. I saw Aus vs Fiji from the last Las Vegas leg and at one stage 4 Australian players fell off a tackle on an amatuer Fijian player, tell me that would happen with top class professionals. The outside backs and loose forwards from the main test teams would be far superior sevens players to most running around the IRB circuit, though they would need fitness work and a couple tournaments to get up to speed tactically.
Rugby's Olympic chance could be lost
The tournament in Scotland is strange, its the final leg where the series champion is crowned played in front of a dead Murrayfield, what a let down. I reckon you could add China as well (Shanghai or Beijing), they got packed crowds to the Asian games sevens and headlines in the Chinese media like ‘rugby crowds bigger than football’, why not capitalize on that.
When it comes to the Olympics theres a part of me that hopes the big countries pick their absolute strongest teams. Any major country like France and Ireland could simply use their current national team backlines and loose forwards and have fantastic teams, they’d just need to increase their fitness training for a couple months and play some practice tournaments.
Rugby's Olympic chance could be lost
Using the existing IRB sevens series would have a number of benefits. It would raise its profile immensely and ensure more countries take it seriously. Currently the series is poorly promoted and suffers from limited television coverage and haphazard scheduling, why hold the Australian leg when Super rugby is in full swing. You could still base regional qualification on the series results, top 3 teams from Oceania, 1 from Asia for example.
Rugby's Olympic chance could be lost
The articles I read reported the 12 team format as an IRB proposal (not mentioning IOC involvement), I am happy to stand corrected on that. Considering there is also a 12 team womens tournament, I wonder if the IRB could lobby for 16 mens teams, 8 womens teams.
Rugby's Olympic chance could be lost
Sevens definitely isn’t rubbish, you mustn’t have seen a good game yet. Unfortunately most of the pool games in IRB events are rubbish because they are huge mis-matches. Hong Kong is particularly bad cause its 24 teams. NZ putting 60 points on Korea is rubbish, just as it would be in 15’s or any sport where you have a collosal mismatch, except perhaps football due to its scoring system.
There were a bunch of great games over the weekend in HK, among the pool matches NZ versus Portugal (not when they played again in the quarters) was great, as was USA versus England, I thought the most physical match of the weekend along with Samoa v Tonga.
As long as teams are evenly matched most games of sevens are good. I reckon the IRB should split the circuit into two divisions of 12 each, with promotion relegation between the two. It would require significant funding initially but its such a great ‘product’ it would pay for itself within a few years through increased tv rights and sponsorship.
Who will the Wallabies send to the Olympics?