Discussion forum

Hi,
Speaking of rugby...

Can anyone pls explain the idea behind including Rugby Sevens (and not rugby union proper) as an official sport for the next Olympic Games?

I understand that it's a simplified (?) version of rugby union with its own Sevens World Cup?

Does it get any interest or is it something rather artificial? Is it something like football-vs.-indoor football in terms of perception and popularity?
c.

For what I know, it is more 'spectacular.' It may be more likely to be watched by non-rugby fans..

And also more international, since there is also african teams like Kenya who have a decent level.. Not the best but still in the top 16

thx, I checked. It may indeed be more international. Kenya are actually 10. in the All-Time Sevens World Series (BTW, another idea for a rugby comp here?).

It seems that Ireland don't like sevens at all. Fiji are very good and relatively stronger than in rugby union proper and so are Samoa. Otherwise, apart from Kenya, it's pretty much the same power rankings as in rugby-15.

Here's a NZL-FJI game for illustration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BKoHhKqBsY

On a side note, Olympic Games may pose a problem for a GBR team (?). From what I just read, if any of ENG, SCO, WAL team wins an Olympic berth, GBR will be allowed to field a team in Rio(its selection yet to be discussed). Another OG qualifications discussion point is that (again from what I read; I don't want any confussion here) rugby federation is structured on an All-Ireland basis. However, as I mentioned before, team IRL is not very high in the sevens rankings.

Michal, I believe England has been nominated as the 'qualifying' country for GB for the Rio Olympics so it all depends on England's performance - if they qualify there will be a GB team at Rio.

Rugby sevens is a very fast game with lots of running and very few technical interruptions. It lasts 14 minutes vs 80 minutes for rugby union matches. It is played in almost every country in the world!!! In Africa Kenya is No 2 and has beaten all top teams including the All Blacks before. You have regional strong teams like Japan, you have Canada and the USA as strong teams and one of the most underrated teams currently playing sevens is Portugal!.

Whilst very few of you may have whats sevens it is very very popular all over the world and now that it is an Olympic Sport I can foresee that it will not be long before it becomes one of the top 5/6 team sports at the Olympics!

thx, Andre! im really looking forward to watching rugby sevens in Rio.

one thing that may be worth further explanations though...if a game lasts 14minutes, are sevens always played as a series of games (a tournament involving several teams)? it's difficult to imagine a single event which only takes less than 15min and then the spectators go home. :)

PS. I read somewhere that although normally sevens players don't play in rugby union leagues or at the rugby union international level and vice versa(is that info correct?), the Olympic Games might actually attract rugby union stars to play in sevens? Is that realistic at all or totally absurd?

I think, one whole tournament is played in one day (or maybe two)

Yeah it's always played in a tournament/cup format...it's an abortion of the game and I can't be doing with it.