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How about a sevens world cup and invite league
Peter Witts Blog | April 08, 2008 | 5 Comments @ How about a sevens world cup and invite league | Peter Witts Blog | The Australian
ALL this talk of the two rugby codes getting back together again may be premature, but I had a brain wave on the weekend which I reckon could be the perfect compromise, and the first step on a journey towards one game, which Australia would dominate for 10 years until the rest of the world caught up!
That brain wave came in the unlikely vision of the Adelaide rugby sevens.
Now, the thing about sevens, I find, is that it is polarising amongst rugby fans.
Some people can’t stand it. It somehow bores them, or perhaps because Australia ain’t great at it, the game never really grabs them.
I used to be like that, until, in 2006, I was lucky to get to the final day/evening of the Commonwealth Games sevens competition.
What a revelation. I came away from the ground with massive respect for the way the game is played, and also for the culture of the competition. I also realised that the guys who play this game are much fitter – or at least they appear to be – than your average player.
I worked this out after watching the star-studded Aussie team – there were at least three current Wallabies on display – make it to the last few rounds before a string of injuries and what looked awfully like pure exhaustion took its toll.
To me, it was quite awesome to see which guys really rules the roost in sevens, and let me tell you, it’s not the boys from Camp Wallaby or the mainstream All Blacks.
So, with that history lesson to guide me, I put in hard yards on the couch, studying the Adelaide sevens on the weekend just past. For those who don’t know or care, South Africa won a blistering final against New Zealand. Australia were beaten by the South Africans on the way.
The speed of the game made the new ELVs look tame.
It was also great seeing teams such as Kenya and the Cook Islands really take it to the more fancied nations. And of course, the South Australians loved it too, with healthy crowds and a ringing endorsement of “come back next year please” from the South Australian Premier.
Now, here’s the idea. Why not have a sevens world cup and invite the leaguies?
We already know that sevens was the way several of the league players who moved to rugby first tasted the game.
Sevens is pretty simple in some ways, but it rewards skill and enterprise. I reckon that the better league teams could very easily adapt to the rugby format via the sevens style. Imagine Inglis and Lockyer, playing alongside Beale and Latham in this form of the game?
And critically, we would NOT have give up half of rugby’s rules or concepts to make this work. The lineouts, scrums, breakdown, et cetera all remain. The league players would just have to learn the skills and adapt.
At the end of the competition, you would have the likes of Gasnier, Ryan, geez, even Willie Mason, all familiar with the skills of a game where the ball is alive all the time and can be competed for.
Think about it.
That would set the platform for the league teams to enter the real world and at the same time we would avoid having to create a new hybrid game.
What do you reckon?
Love the concept myself...
Proudly bought to you by a brewery somewhere....
It would be interesting to see who was picked for the Australian side if nothing else.
Would the leaguies have enough stamina to play sevens? I mean, thier game is a whole team taking turns to run the ball up, where sevens is basically non stop, there is no rest time what-so-ever....
You would have to imagine that League players fitness would be up for it. They do fitness and strength and conditioning etc drills as well as AFL and Rugby players
The laws would have to be modified as the mungo 7's rules are different to 7's law.
Brother Gallagher I hear you
True, but you would think if that a player played a particular game for thier whole lives and went to a game which was entirely different they would have a bit of trouble against the players who play it week in week out...and by the size of some of the leaguies I don't see many whispy wingers in there...with an empasise of the getting buffed up etc, where as sevens is a large speed game...
I recall a number of years ago (alright 1998) attending the Middlesex 7s at Twickenham and observing there were one, possibly two, super league teams represented in the tournament. As stated in the blog, the game of 7s rugby is simple enough for the mungos and in fact Wigan RL won the tourny in 1996, and more recently Bradford Bulls RL in 2002.
As a sevens boy myself, would be happy with anything that will raise the profile of the game over these parts (even if it means collabotating with the mungos). Having said that, it would be hard to see these high-value professional players being released by the NRL clubs to play in an ARU-sponsored tourny.
Wigan winning in 1996 wasn't a surprise, as rugby was still emerging out of amateurism and the team had a swag of union converts at the time anyway. However, Bradford winning in 2002, against the professional Premiership teams, must have been an embarassment and I don't think the Super League teams are invited anymore. I don't see the IRB putting themselves in the same position - being "big brother" on the world stage, they'd have nothing to gain from it.
They don't want to be embarassed again![]()
If that's such a problem for you why propose having anything to do with them in the first place? That's rhetorical question BTW. You can consider your Mungo fishing expeditions well sussed out.
As far as player availability goes, I reckon there's no way NRL clubs would release players during their season. At the end of the regular season it might get some acceptance though. It sure would be interesting.
I wouldn't worry about it - it's not gonna happen. That Peter Witts is a trouble maker![]()
Two codes two different ways of playing. Thats why their was a split to start with. There is nothing wrong with Union. Its the other code thats needs help. Dont try and fix which aint broken
Union the game they play in Heaven
League ?????????????????????????????????????