Saving SeVeNS from itself
PLUS: The Week That Was and a disappointingly Giro-free Weekend That Will Be
The sevens world circuit might be forced to return to its heartlands, including New Zealand.
If so, does anybody care?
In a bit of late mail, The Bounce understands that costs for running the circuit have ballooned, with a source suggesting the budget hole for the HSBC SVNS (yes, that’s how they SPL it, LOL) is running into multiple tens of millions per year.
It would be a chastening result for World Rugby, who took the circuit from a promoter-led series of events to an in-house tournament. They have largely eschewed rugby’s global hotspots and have instead looked to spread the gospel by placing the eight-event series in Dubai, Cape Town, Perth, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Singapore and Madrid.
There is talk already that World Rugby wants to get out of the event-management side of sevens and go back to a promoter-led model.
That could see New Zealand come back into the frame. The Wellington Sevens used to be one of the signature stops on the circuit until interest fell off a cliff. The young thrusters blamed the fun-police for ruining the event, while the more family-orientated spectators said they were staying away because the weekend had become a bacchanal they did not want their children exposed to.
Either way, the Cake Tin’s bright yellow seats, depressingly empty, became the tournament’s defining feature before it shipped off to Hamilton for a couple of lacklustre years.
There is another factor at play that might have more to do with interest levels than the ABV levels of the avenger spectator.
It might just be that the sport is experiencing the double-edged sword wielded by the Olympics.
Most agreed that when the sport debuted at the Olympics in Rio in 2016 it was a great promotional tool for rugby. The only problem with that is that when a single event becomes the pinnacle, the rest is secondary.
Ask any of the competing countries on the circuit whether they’d accept poor results in the intervening years if they could guarantee gold at the Olympics and they’d all make that deal.
So if you can’t sell your event as a pinnacle event, you have to sell it solely as a weekend party. The problem being that as Wellington discovered, party trends come and go.
The sevens used to be cool. Not so much now, regardless of whether it’s sevens or SVNS.
Singapore Sevens, Singapore, tonight-Sunday, SS2
THE WEEK THAT WAS
There’s huge excitement and no little expectation in the cycling community as New Zealander Laurence Pithie has been green lit to challenge for stage wins on the Giro d’Italia, the first of the season’s three Grand Tours.
“I’m arriving on the Italian roads with a lot of expectations, so we’ll take one opportunity after another and give everything we’ve got, every day, to go for this stage win that unites [Groupama-FDJ],” Pithie said.
Pithie is a chance in hilly and flat stages and is an outside chance in Sunday’s first stage, though the category two Colle Maddalena 20kms from the end might tilt the balance in favour of the out-and-out climbers.
Pithie is not the only New Zealander competing, with Dion Smith becoming the eighth New Zealander to compete in all three Grand Tours - the Tour de France and Vuelta Espana the other two - when the Giro starts in Turin.
Dion Smith, the 31-year-old from Taupaki, has rejoined Intermarché-Wanty, who he last rode for in 2018 and four years with Mitchelton-Scott/Team BikeExchange-Jayco for four years.
“Grand Tours are all different but they are also all the same - three weeks long, a lot of mountains and flat stages. I do not know what to really expect but this year [but there may be] more medium stages which will work well for our team.”
The reason this is not in The Weekend That Will Be? It’s not clear how we’ll get to watch it although a subscriber has suggested the best way is to use a VPN and pay £7 to Eurosport UK for a month’s pass. Sky doesn’t have the rights, as has been discussed before. Warner Bros-Discovery does, but it does not appear to be screening on its Three Now app.
A couple of sad cricket stories to digest.
Will Pucovski looks destined to become one of the great what-if stories, with Victoria Cricket waiting on a medical panel decision before his contract is ratified. There are serious doubts as to whether he will play at the top levels again.
There were hopes earlier this year that Pucovski might be returning to his best form after scoring a century against New South Wales at the SCG, re-igniting the possibility of adding to his lone test appearance. There was optimism from Pucovski, too, that he had a better understanding of how his concussions and mental-health issues were linked.
“I have a lot of concussion symptoms that over a seven or eight year period, actually never subsided,” Pucovski had told the Vic State Cricket podcast in February.
“You just sort of got used to having them in a way… I would fail concussion tests in the exact same way every single time, regardless of whether I had been hit in the head, and that was over a seven or eight year period.”
Among the tragic news, there was a nice anecdote doing the rounds about an exchange Baker had with Ben Stokes, after the England captain had tonked him for 34 off a single over.
Stokes evidently WhatsApped Baker, telling him not to let his onslaught define his season before writing:
“You’ve got serious potential and [I] think you'll go a long way,” Stokes added. “Most important opinion is from the lads in your changing-room and they will always have your back. This coming from someone who got meeeeeeeelted in a T20 World Cup final.”
A run-of-the-mill stats and quote-heavy piece on Kostas Barbarouses is lifted by some nice panel information at the bottom. The following lines in particular elevated the yarn (the editing is mine).
His name was spelled Costa Barbarouses on the scoresheet when he opened his A-League account as an 18-year-old…
And:
The most important goal of Barbarouses’ career should not have actually counted. Barbarouses was credited with the winning goal in the 2018 grand final after leading Melbourne Victory to a dramatic 1-0 win over Newcastle Jets. VAR failed in the 30 seconds leading up to the ninth-minute goal and was unable to detect an offside in the lead-up.
***
It’s a local football bonanza this evening but this one I’m less comfortable with.
I know it’s a cute angle and I know the story would not have been done without parental consent, but Beckett Sumner is nine years old.
Just let the kid play.
THE WEEKEND THAT WILL BE
Super Rugby has managed to get out of the way of itself and turned into an intriguing tournament, even if at least two too many teams will qualify for the playoffs. Part of that is fuelled by quality seasons from the Blues and Hurricanes - two teams with big fanbases (if not big crowds) that have lived in the shadow of another New Zealand franchise that is also on the rise after an appalling start to the season. Another factor is a sharp rise in competitiveness of the Australian teams. A good weekend, then, for a transtasman crossover round.
Hurricanes v Waratahs, Wellington, tonight 7.05pm
Rebels v Blues, Melbourne, tonight 9.35pm
Crusaders v Reds, Christchurch, tomorrow 4.35pm (all SS1)
Anxiety is increasing among the Mt Smart faithful as the Warriors mini-rut threatens to turn into a full-blown form slump. Despite conceding 27 points to the wooden-spoon favourites Gold Coast at home last week, it is not defence that is the biggest issue. Too often the Warriors have reached for a sharp knife on attack and instead have come up holding a spoon1. The red-zone attack in particular has become awfully predictable. The Knights offer a chance for a reset.
Newcastle v NZ Warriors, Newcastle, Sunday 4pm, SS4
The F1 news-machine keeps churning out angles that are often more captivating than the action on track. The latest bombshell is that Adrian Newey, the brains credited with designing the near-unbeatable aero package on the Red Bull, is leaving the team due to the off-track dramas and is likely to land at Ferrari.
Miami GP, Miami, Monday 8am, SS2
The NHL and NBA playoffs continue, with regular televised games on ESPN. There is one first-round playoff series that is headed towards the two most exciting words in US sports - game seven - with the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs, two of the Original Six franchises, meeting at Sunday lunchtime.
That line is a bit too Alanis Morrisette-y for my liking but I was in a rush so forgive me.
Not a lot wrong with Alanis, Dylan, but your comment more made me think of this scene in the Simpson. I’d claim that as inspiration if I were you.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GWyAlri91SY
Your point about the SVNS takes me back to the days of SupeRugby, or as I read it, soup rugby. Why can’t we simply spell correctly?