Rugby Sevens to be introduced as a Olympic Sport.



Barry

Good

League or Union?

Sevens, its neither.

Who will be picked?
Will it be the best of both codes?
How will training work when both codes run at different times?
Will there be a great exodus from League to Union just to play during 2012?

I would imagine it'll be a RU selected team, and sadly, rightly so. On the international stage, which is what the Olympics is all about, Union sses all over League.

So when they get tackled, what happens?

They pass the ball

Sevens is easily the most exciting form of rugby around

True.

It's the one format of rugby that is totally applicable to both codes.

What about (league) Nines ?

Do sevens have line outs? Probably Yes

Do sevens have rucks? Probably Yes

Do sevens have a play the ball? Definitely No

So it's still basically Rugby Union only not as tedious.

What would be interesting would be allowing dual entries from Australia, New Zealand, England and France made up of League players. Unfortunately that can't happen.

Line outs ? Probably Yes, but with only two or three in the line its a really quick way to get the ball back into play (far quicker than a scrum) and not a "set piece" like it is in Union

Rucks ? Not really, with only two or three congregating around the ball its simply a much quicker way to get the ball back into play than a play-the-ball as the tackled player doesn't have to regain his feet to release it, again its not a set piece ruck like in Union.

Play-the-ball ? No, you simply release the ball when tackled, simples (squeak)

So basically its not Union or League, its Rugby Sevens.

I can appreciate that it's not exactly Union but it's based on the Union model and played by Union models.

And the problem is ?

There's no problem as long as people recognise the origin of the variant and realise which set of 'rugby' players will be eligible to compete.

Then it can be ignored.

You wouldn't watch it at all ?

You can't watch something different with a different mindset ?

I find that quite sad.

I watch quite a bit of Union in the deep mid winter, if I can find an angle usually provided by an ex-leagueie, I much prefer it to football in the off season.

It is slowly improving as a spectacle but still has a long way to go for my exact tastes.

I've watched sevens and particulary enjoyed seeing Wigan and Bradford winning the Middlesex version (less enamoured by the combined forces of Leeds Rugby in said event mind) but honestly sevens is nothing like rugby should be. Where's the tackling, where's the building pressure, where's the hits, where's the war of attrition, where's the battle for field position?

It's nowhere it's two passes running backwards to run forwards and alternating tries where someone has to wait behind the sticks for someone to get to them before placing the ball running the clock down.

It's rubbish.

League adapts to the shortened version far better than Union, IMO.

I agree there, one good improvement would be to play on a pitch half the size, theres simply too much room for seven a side on a normal sized pitch because the team who usually win it are the team who field a couple of Martin Offiah style players

Limiting the time frame also helps a lot

I've taken the liberty of clarifying that for you.

Sevens is just a way of making Union watchable

Saying it is the most exciting form of rugby is akin to suggesting Basketball is better than Football because there's more scoring. The argument holds for (attention deficit) US sports Fans but the vast majority of the world know better.

(In fact, seven's is the rugby equivalent of basketball: fun to play and provides good highlights but games tend to lack any real tension and when it comes down to it each team scores so often that games are only really decided by when they fail to score)

There's a well-established international IRB sevens circuit. Why would GB look beyond those players?