A Game At Sixes And Sevens

NEXT YEAR, 2022, is going to be a big year for Sevens Rugby. Although the new South African variant might mean changes, as things stand, the World Rugby/HSBC circuit is set to resume, firing on all cylinders, while, of course, it's a Commonwealth Games year, plus the quadrennial Sevens Rugby World Cup, which is always big for the short game.

This year, with the Olympic Games, Team GB was the main event in Sevens in this country, but, come next year – Scotland is back. So, it was interesting to see the SRU announce the Scotland Sevens core squad yesterday. The 12-strong squad, announced by Coach Ciaran Beattie, comprises:

Kaleem Barreto, Alec Coombes, Matt Davidson, Jordan Edmunds, Harvey Elms, Jamie Farndale, Lee Jones, Paddy Kelly, Gavin Lowe, Ross McCann, Femi Sofolarin, Callum Young.

There is a hard core of experience in the squad, Lee Jones, late of Glasgow Warriors, is back for his first outing in the Sevens squad since 2018, looking to add to his 25 previous tournaments. Also back are Alec Coombs and Ross McCann, who were in the Team GB squad at the Tokyo Olympics, while Paddy Kelly and Jamie Farndale, who were both in the Team GB World Sevens squad also return to the Scotland fold.

Gavin Lowe, who overcame some serious injuries to feature for Ayrshire Bulls in their FOSROC Super6 win is also back, to add to his 40 previous tournament appearances. The Mauchline Man is one of seven recruits from S6, the others are Boroughmuir Bears' scrum-half Kaleem Barreto, Harvey Elms from Watsonians and Jed-forest man Callum Young, late of Heriot's – all have previous Sevens experience, while the new blood comes in the form of Boroughmuir finisher Jordan Edmonds and Bulls' full-back Matt Davidson. The final squad member is Femi Sofolarin, who will combine his Sevens duties with studying at Newcastle University.

This is the first Scotland squad since March, 2020 and after such a long break, Coach Beattie is keen to get back into action and hoping for a successful season.

“With both the Commonwealth Games and the Sevens World Cup, it promises to be a special year, and one that, as a group, we will embrace,' said the coach.

WORLD RUGBY'S Game-On Global Law Variations, announced this week, are certainly worth considering. If they eventually find their way permanently into the Law book, the game will never be the same.

There are ten areas under review from the new initiative, and as World Rugby says in its press release – modified contact, weight-banded matches and lowered tackle height are at the heart of the variations, which will impact the community game and are designed to further advance accessibility and player welfare.

The new variations include flexibility in the number of players, game duration, pitch size, ball size as well as variations around the scrum, lines-out and kicking. National unions can implemented the changes from January, 2022, but, which laws they implement will be optional and up to the Union to determine.

One of the new laws harks back to when I was a boy – teams no longer have to have 15 players. For a game to go ahead, they need at least 10, but, provided each team has the same number of players, it can go ahead with fewer than 15. This move alone, could reduce the too-high number of unplayed matches at second and lower XV and at Regional League level. If one team turns up with 12 players to meet opponents having 15, then the short-handed team can insist on numbers being equal, however, the unused players from the bigger-numbered team, can still be used as substitutes.

Game duration can be altered. The World Rugby announcement suggests:

• 10-a-side – 40 minutes maximum

• 11-a-side – 50 minutes

• 12 or 13-a-side – 60 minutes

• 14-a-side – 70 minutes

• 15-a-side – 80 minutes.

There is additional flexibility in that games can be split into halves, quarters or thirds.

Rolling substitutes, with uninjured players allowed to return, will also be allowed, while the new variations set-out minimum numbers in scrums – five-man scrums for 10-a-side, up to full eights for 15-a-side. The Unions can also, if they wish, implement the Under-19 law variation which only allows a scrum to be moved 1.5 metres.

There is also a suggestion, if a scrum is incomplete, it re-starts with a free-kick to the side which had the put-in. (Ah hae ma doots on that one, I must confess).

Teams may also agree to uncontested lines-out, or not to lift. But, if uncontested lines-out are agreed, the ball has to be passed to the scrum-half – (no mauls then).

In many ways, the suggested variation are offering an a la carte menu for unions and competitions. Choose which variations to use and use them. For instance, a union might decide that in the community game:

• Penalties and free kicks can only be kicked from inside a team's own half

• All conversions to be taken from in front of the posts

• Kicks in the attacking 22 cannot be marked.

Pitch sizes can also be altered. World Rugby suggests, for instance, that 10-a-side matches be played across half of a full-sized pitch, with all conversions taken from in front of the one set of posts.

While no SR|U representatives are named in the Working Group who came up with these variations, I hope they have been reading this blog. They have suggested that smaller, size 4 or 4.5 balls could be used. I have long advocated this change for the Women's game.

World Rugby is also looking seriously at weight-graded rugby as a means of assisting player retention between youth and adult rugby.

The suggested variations include a call for the lowering from the tackle height, from shoulder-high to nipple-high, or even to waist high – at the discretion of the domestic union. But, as with everything else in Game On, it's up to each union to decide which variations they implement.

Prepare for some interesting discussion and debate.