I love sevens rugby, it encapsulates everything that I love about the sport and takes out the things that slow the game down. Ever since Bournemouth made its debut several years ago the game has exploded both Nationally and Internationally.
The Olympic committee bringing this version of the sport into the next Olympics in Rio has then supercharged this boom. This single action has lead to an explosion of International rugby. Smaller rugby nations have since been able to secure funding from their Olympic committees to support player development.
The shinning example of this has been Portugal who currently sit 11th in The World Series standings. The money has enabled them to provide their current crop of payers the level of financial support that they need to push forward and this season they are looking genuine contenders to avoid the dreaded end of season playoffs which see teams scrap it out for the final places on next season’s series.
A look through the current Series and you will see no fewer than 4 teams that are not in the top 20 of the official 15s tables. Countries like the US and Russia have seen this as a significant way to help grow the sport within their countries and you can see the investment starting to take shape on the 7s field, What is more significant is how you are then able to see this take shape on the 15s field, not necessarily with the group of players who are starting to become household names but from a group of players who have benefited from the funding and have quite got the right skills for the 7s game. In the bid to find 7s players with the right skill sets you have to go through an awful lot of 15s players to get there.
Certainly the impact can be felt wider with nations like Iceland, who are probably a country mile off actually putting out a International 15s in the next couple of years. And yet they have already competed on the International stage at 7s, and certainly for the next few years they have identified 7s as the version of the sport that is most likely to help them succeed in building the sport nationally. Not only have they invested some time in helping to improve the squad for the next International tournament but they are working on ways to hold a tournament locally so that they can show a skeptical local public what the sport can really be about.
7s is at that point where some really good support, governance and funding in the right areas, the sport could explode in England and we could really start seeing a proper player development path into the England 7s team. Just on a national level the number of teams in 7s is closing in on if not greater than those in 15s. As the clamour grows concerning why players are leaving the 15s game in droves, one only has to look at how 7s continues to grow.
Why do I love 7s?
- It is a warm weather sport.
- It doesn’t take itself to seriously.
- There is less impact on the body from collisions enabling players to play for longer.
- It teaches players to be comfortable in possession and encourages better decision making.
- It helps players understand space better and what they can do to create space.
- Anybody can improve their basic skills and fitness just by playing 7s.
One thing is for sure despite what some corners of the game might think, sevens will be the more popular version of the sport in the next few years and it will start to push out from it’s seasonal boundaries, as teams look towards the warmer climates during the winter seasons to enable them to continue playing.
