2016 is an Olympic year. For the first time Sevens will be on the roster. This will significantly boost the profile of the sport around the world as well as in our own backyard. On top of that South Africa who have struggled to win medals of any kind at the Olympics, have a very good chance of standing on the medal-winners podium at the end of this debut event. A gold medal would guarantee VIP / Red Carpet status for the Blitzbokke for a few years to come, as Saffas have witnessed in the past with other first place finishers. So expect a Sevens hype in the lead up to and during August. August just happens be the start and progress of the short school Sevens season.
At most top rugby schools Sevens pretty much lives in the shadow of other major sports and tends to take a backseat to matric exams preparations as well. Also there isn’t much scope for lower age-group kids partly because at a younger age kids tend to play a wider variety of sports whereas older kids specialise a bit more. Growth in popularity will be an interesting trend to follow during the second half of 2016 and could lead to the establishment of a fully-fledged under-15 Sevens circuit. SARU liked the idea of under-15 Sevens but did not have the budget to fund a provincial tournament so there’s still only one national under-17 Sevens for now.
The decision to change the provincial Sevens tournament from under-18 to under-17 is an interesting one. SARU probably felt that using Sevens to identify elite players ahead of the following year’s proper 15-man rugby season fitted well into their plans of player tracking. It also meant SARU are far better equipped to pick an under-18 Sevens side for international duty the next year. No doubt matric exams also weighed in on the under-17 decision. The under-17 age-group also opens the doors for more under-16 players to participate.
An under-17 age-limit isn’t desirable to all. It obviously excludes 18 and 19-year-old players. Schools feel an obligation to provide all their scholars with sport opportunity. As a result SARU has left the age-group determination decision up to each individual province. For example in KZN, it was agreed that school Sevens would be classified as an under-18 age-group sport. This in turn led to some interesting discussion on how best to go about identifying the best under-17 players for the provincial tournament within a sport set to be dominated by under-18 players. In the end one inter-schools event at Kings Park was set aside as a type of under-17 trials.
CURRO have been running a good 7’s circuit for their schools and successful U13 tournament in each region annually for the past few years.
While great for seeding interest in the game – not all the big schools are present – it tends to be one or two top contenders (so in KZN that is Hillcrest and Westville) – but it is lacking the GW / DPHS / Merchiston / Pelham / Highbury etc. – and the field is filled with other schools like Winston Park / CURRO HCA / Embury etc.
Would be good to see 7s growing across all age groups and possibly a shorter XV’s season (like some of the KZN private schools) followed by a 7’s circuit – and putting out a full field -all the way down to the G or H team to allow more exposure to the game.