World Rugby must go back to what worked for sevens, including separate circuits for men and women, writes SIMON BORCHARDT.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
World Rugby should have kept that in mind when reviewing its Sevens Series format in the wake of the global lockdown that cut the 2019-20 season short.
At the time, the popular series had 10 events per season with 16 teams at each. When it was relaunched two years later as the SVNS Series (presumably to appeal to kids who don’t see the need for vowels) it had been reduced to eight tournaments with only 12 teams at each. And as part of World Rugby’s commitment to “gender parity”, the men’s and women’s series were aligned, with men’s and women’s matches played at the same tournament often over a bloated three days instead of a fast-paced two.
New Zealand (Hamilton), England (London) and France (Paris) were the notable absentees from the 2023-24 schedule, with seven regular-season tournaments in Dubai, Cape Town, Perth, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Singapore followed by a ‘Grand Final’ in Madrid involving the top eight teams on the log.
This season, there were only six regular-season tournaments – in Dubai, Cape Town, Perth, Vancouver, Hong Kong and Singapore – before a rebranded eight-team ‘SVNS World Championship’ in Los Angeles.
And from next season, there will be an eight-team, six-event SVNS Division 1; a six-team, three-event SVNS Division 2; and a standalone eight-team Challenger Series, followed by three SVNS World Championship events involving 12 teams.
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Oh, and in case you hadn’t noticed, the Sevens World Cup (last held in Cape Town three years ago) has quietly been scrapped, with the Olympics now sevens’ undisputed pinnacle event.
Last year’s Olympic Sevens in Paris was a huge success, with sell-out crowds and the Antoine Dupont-inspired hosts winning gold. But that hasn’t boosted the SVNS circuit; in fact, there seems to be less interest in it this season than at any time in its 26-year history.
World Rugby only has itself to blame for trying to fix something that was working just fine.
The governing body initially claimed the reduction in the number of teams was for logistical and health restriction reasons during the global lockdown. Then it was to align with the number of teams at the Olympics. Cutting the number of events was done for cost-cutting reasons, but the series continues to run at a huge loss.
World Rugby’s biggest blunder, though, was taking successful men’s sevens tournaments and merging them with women’s tournaments that wouldn’t attract enough fans to stadiums or eyeballs on TV as standalone events to be commercially viable.
“Fans don’t want to watch women’s rugby? Well, we’ll make them!” appeared to be World Rugby’s thought process instead of careful consideration of the impact it would have on men’s sevens and the fan experience.
World Rugby should fix what it has broken instead of continuous tinkering.
It can start by separating the men’s and women’s series again. The men ideally need to play 10 tournaments, with England and France brought back onto the schedule, and if sevens is all about growing the game (as we’re told) then a return to 16 teams is a no-brainer.
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All tournaments should have the same format – an easy-to-understand four pools of four teams each with the top two progressing to the quarter-finals (no more ‘straight to semis’ for some events). And scrap the season-ending SVNS World Championship – after 10 tournaments, the team that tops the log deserves to be crowned series champions.
In other words, go back to what worked and stop persisting with what clearly doesn’t.
Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images
