TALKING POINT: Is World Rugby's Sevens revamp working?

The views expressed in this article are those of senior rugby writer Brenden Nel, and do not necessarily reflect those of SuperSport

World Rugby may have decided that they wanted a high-octane winner-takes-all World Series but their changes, in the process, have robbed tournaments of their uniqueness and colourful atmosphere.

This weekend’s Cape Town Sevens may have been a special event because the Blitzboks put in a sensational display to go back to back and win their sixth overall Cape Town Sevens title, but all the joy was made a little bit less with what the Sevens circuit has turned into.

It isn’t the first change that has been made to erode the magical Sevens aura, and won’t be the last, and the more that the Series is tinkered with, the more it loses its magic, and becomes an elite competition for the few that fails to please the many.

Now don’t get me wrong, Sevens rugby is supposed to be fun, and yes there is a professional element to it that victory is everything in sport.

CARNIVAL ATMOSPHERE

But where else in rugby outside a World Cup could you get the flavour of 24 different nations, playing in a tournament over three days in a carnival atmosphere.

That has been whittled down to eight elite nations that have no room for error, while the carnival atmosphere has been all but smashed.

Talking to regulars at the Cape Town Sevens the same conversations appeared over and over. The World Cup a few years back was a disaster, and lost a lot of the fringe crowd while having the tournament now compete with the Investec Champions Cup doesn’t help either.

Cutting the teams down to eight means that every game is a must win, but it also means that the tournament loses a lot of its colour, its fun and its uniqueness.

There is no band of travelling Kenyan fans that made their way to every tournament in the world, nor is there the Cape Town chapter of Uganda and Zimbabwe’s rugby teams, who used to enthrall the crowds as well.

Sevens has always been the one place that a minor nation can cause an upset, and World Rugby’s insistence on cutting teams to cut costs has been a really bad look.

The rumours (always denied by the organisation) that bloated travelling bills were hurting the series may be true - but there were more World Rugby staff on the junket than coaches and players at times, even though most of the work was done by local organising committees on the ground.

WORST WORLD CUP EVER

The celebratory pats on the back after the worst World Cup ever in Cape Town - where the Blitzboks fans had to wait until 10pm to see their side play and 12 hour intervals between games of the top teams was something else.

Since then World Rugby has cut the tournaments, cut teams, even shortened the name to the ghastly SVNS variation and tried to convince us all this is in the name of progress.

Perhaps former England, USA and Kenya Sevens coach Mike Friday summed it up the best - and this comes from one of the keenest minds and most passionate supporters of the game.

Friday, when hearing of the change in format, was not impressed.

““Having read the press release it just more WR spin… you mean “shaped” through Machiavellian consultation and underhandedness. Investing £10m – you mean the money IOC allocates to WR!!!” Friday wrote on Twitter.

“A PowerPoint competition that looks pretty in theory on paper, definitely not expanded and in reality a disaster for all Tier 2 and Tier 3 players and programs and offers anything but a clear pathway.

““The gap will just get wider… all so the select Tier 1 unions can invest less in 7s and still remain at the Top 7s table. Shame on you World Rugby. The format isn’t the issue, it’s your event strategy and 7s leadership who are not fit for purpose.

“How about WR stops trying to be an events business before killing the 7s completely? Do the right thing: step aside and just be the governing body. Vernon Pugh and Beth Coalter will be turning in their graves right now.”

Pugh and Coalter were the driving force behind the establishment of the Sevens series and Friday is right, the new “vision” hardly matches their passion project that was launched years ago.

CAPE TOWN WASN’T FULL

This past weekend worked because the Blitzboks won, but if that success was removed, then would it be seen the same by the local public? Would fans queue for tickets again like they did in the past when it was ranked the best Sevens tournament in the world for a number of years?

This weekend it was noticeable that despite some sterling efforts from SA Rugby to market the tournament, it wasn’t anywhere near full.

Anyone who has experienced the Cape Town Sevens in its fullest glory knows the potential it has and the wonderful event it is. They will know how the minnow nations contribute to the spectacle and also provide fringe fans a chance to dip in and out of the tournament, enjoying the surrounding entertainment at the same time.

It worked, before the buzzsaw was taken to it, and the Sevens Series was given the marketing makeover nobody wanted.

And now its a winner takes all competition that has lost all its glamour, and is only about the elite teams.

Again there are those who will pat themselves on the back but in reality this isn't a sustainable model, and it protects the elites and hardly uses Sevens as a vehicle to develop smaller nations. Kenya, Spain, Portugal and others will be the biggest losers here. 

Samoa don’t feature, Tonga are nowhere and there is no space for regional invitational teams like Uganda and Zimbabwe, Hong Kong and China and others.

The top eight may fight it out for a spot in the sun, but the treasure chest that was Sevens is lost forever. It has just become another bullet point in an overcrowded season.

And that we have World Rugby to thank.