Promoting Sevens and Tens Might Add More To Fifteens

EARLIER this week, on the excellent The Offside Line, David Barnes floated the notion of having a look at the programme for the traditional Borders Sevens. Now, David's distinguished father, Big Ian, may be one of the few Teris to be allowed out of Hawick without an escort, and David's Edinburgh polish may be one of the results of this, but, he ought perhaps to notice, Sevens isn't all about the Borders.

Indeed, given Sevens is the brand of Rugby Union Football, which has Olympic Games presence, there is a chance, albeit at this stage only a small one, that, some day in the future, Sevens could be the more-popular form of the game.

This may be a case of me indulging in something the great Graham Spiers has accused me of in the past – hermeneutics – but, given the platform of Olympic participation, Sevens just might catch-on in nations without a traditional rugby heritage: look what has happened in the USA for instance, and it may grow in these places, to the detriment of the full-fat 15-a-side game.

Add the increasing ferocity of the “hits” in the professional full game, and we could see, going forward, parents telling their children: “You can play seven-a-side rugby, but, not that violent 15-a-side game.”

I have felt for some time, the SRU ought to be paying more attention to Sevens, indeed, I would hope the High Heid Yins would, if they can turn their little minds away from dreaming-up means of screwing more cash for them to fritter away on pet projects out of the long-suffering rugby public, take a deep and considered look at the entire fabric of the game here.

Anent Sevens; we read that their under-performing Sevens programme is one area at which Twickenham is looking, as they undertake their austerity programme. (A wee aside here, the RFU doing austerity surely proves they are indeed - “The Tory Party with dirty knees.”)

The RFU is the lead union in the BOA's (British Olympic Association's) Team GB sevens programme. So, if Twickenham is to cut the funding, or downgrade their sevens programme, surely, as the inventors of the short form of the game, the SRU will need to step-up and carry the ball.

Qualification for Rio in 2016 was pretty straight-forward; the BOA having nominated England as lead nation, once they finished fourth in the World Rugby Sevens series, Team GB was going to Rio. It was then a case of using summer 2016 European tournaments to pick the final squad for Rio.

This time round, regardless of the uncertainty over the English sevens programme, England only finished fifth in the World Rugby?HSBC Sevens Series, so, Team GB will need to get through the qualifying process for Tokyo. This gets underway, in Colomiers, France, on 13/14 July. The question is, does 'England' compete in this? If 'England' does not go to Colomiers, does 'Scotland' or 'Wales' go, or, does a 'Team GB' squad travel?

What will happen with qualifying for the Olympics?

If they don't, will Team GB be able to compete in the European Repechage, some time in 2020, to get to Tokyo. I feel decisions on this need to be made – and soon.

Leaving aside the high performance aspect of Sevens, I honestly feel we really ought to be treating the short game with a lot more seriousness here in Scotland. I have written before, there used to be District sevens series all over Scotland. Here in the West, (from memory), the Spring Sevens series was something like: Allan Glen's, Greenock Wanderers, Glasgow University, Ayr and Glasgow Accies (or was it High School?) The Glasgow Accies Sevens, in the 1970s, attracted big-money sponsorship from one of the whisky companies and got a terrific media presence as a result.

I know there were similar circuits in Edinburgh and in both the North and Midlands parts of Caledonia. Why, here in the West, there was even a lower grade series, going to such great tournaments as Wigtownshire - where the post tournament bacchanalia was of epic proportions. There was a rule: what happens at Wigtownshire, stays at Wigtownshire.

Why cannot we resurrect these local circuits, with the Kings of the Sevens as a sort of Grand Prix series. What about making the Kings of the Sevens a grand, two-day end of season jamboree at Murrayfield, with additional skills competitions. Surely the SRU could come up with something exciting.

In his TOL piece, Barney touched on the uneven spread of fixtures over the season. As it stands, in the new season, should we get a mild winter with few games called off, most clubs will be done and dusted by the start of February. OK, Sevens could take care of April and early May for most clubs. But, what of those players who don't like Sevens, and don't want to play?

I know there are some within HQ who are with me on this, so, why not Tens – rugby's unloved child. Coming as it does as a mid-way point between Sevens and Fifteens, I believe Tens, if the format was tweaked, could become a very good platform for promoting the Scottish style of playing. Could we not bring Tens into the season – perhaps in August and early September, as a means of getting players fit and used to running about. Then switch to 15-a-side, get the leagues out of the way by the end of March.

In April and May, those who wished could play Sevens, the rest could play Tens tournaments – I am sure this would work, and, bring up the skills levels. We cannot, as is so often the case in Scotland, stick with what has aye been. We need to try things, be bold and really sell rugby as a sport for all.

FINALLY, that's another week past, and still no response from Sean Lineen or Zoe Paige in response to my questions regarding Super-6. It really takes them a long time to get their brains into gear at BT Murrayfield.