The Olympic Sevens tournament at Stade de France made a splendid demonstration of the potential found within rugby’s 15-a-side match amidst the electrifying buzz. The admirable sportsmanship, offensive strategy, remarkable talents, and profound reverence for rugby displayed by the players were the embodiment of the modern Olympic spirit envisioned by the founder, Baron Pierre De Coubertin.
De Coubertin, fondly regarded as “a rugby man” in French culture, played pivotal roles in instigating the French Rugby Federation and being a charter member of Stade Francais. This tournament, displaying liberty, equality, and fraternity – the core principles of the French Republic – would have undoubtedly filled him with pride.
The Sevens format, with its spontaneous nature, compels players to interpret opponents’ gameplay and quickly adapt during matches. This, accompanied by an eagerness for physical confrontation, offers an opportunity for players to showcase their skills without the constraints of overly prescribed coaching methods.
Rugby playing nations with fewer players have an equal standing in international Sevens due to a smaller team size. This allows them to not only challenge, but also overcome more established nations. This is exemplified by the men’s team from Fiji and the women’s team from Canada, both of whom secured silver medals.
Taking a group of close companion players on a worldwide tour, playing the game they are passionate about in grandiose stadiums like those in Hong Kong, Madrid, and Perth, all while wearing their national colours is the epitome of every rugby player’s dreams.
Over the past ten years, a clear divergence has occurred in the Sevens, with the introduction of strategic law changes exclusively applicable to this format, which has resulted in creating two separate games. This transformation has led to the embodiment of ‘Liberté, Egalité, and Fraternité’ within the Sevens game.
Sevens organisers have focused on enhancing the pace of the matches and prolonging the duration the ball is in active play. This strategy was adopted to boost player engagement and audience amusement, as fans in the stands revel as much as the players on the field. As a result, the World Rugby Sevens Series has evolved into a competition which requires competitors to possess remarkable aerobic stamina. The sevens players need to carry less muscle mass than their counterparts in 15-a-side games due to the emphasis on aerobic fitness.
Sevens athletes are expected to consistently sprint and recover with condensed intervals throughout each 14-minute game. The Sevens competitions during the Olympics entail around 70 minutes of intensive aerobic rugby over five games.
Ironically, while the Seven’s officials have fostered these beneficial rules, World Rugby imposed rules in the 15-a-side game that direct it in an entirely contrasting route. They have seen in recent times a drastic decrease in ball in-play time. In the initial test match between South Africa and Ireland in Pretoria, the ball was only active for a short 30 minutes.
The game currently sees forwards overpowering a 7-1 or 6-2 split on the benches, which caused 12 colossal Springboks forwards at Loftus Versfeld’s high altitude game to play only half a match. This implies just 15 minutes of aerobic effort was required from 14 Springbok forwards.
Now, this scenario is regularly seen in all tiers of the 15-a-side sport. In this format of the game, aerobic fitness is no longer a predominant element and is the consequence of unfavourable laws.
Interestingly, in spite of having fewer defenders in Sevens, most tackles during the Olympic matches were safely executed below the sternum for both the tackler and person with the ball. Among the numerous tackles made throughout the tournament, extraordinarily few led to HIAs.
Comparable findings are seen in New Zealand Rugby, where a below-the-sternum tackle rule is tested in all local 15-a-side matches. A striking statistic from there, revealed that in the senior boys’ rugby matches at schools, a single tackler executed 90 percent of tackles.
In men’s senior level club rugby, tackles below the sternum accounted for 78 per cent, while in women’s senior rugby, this increased to 72 per cent. An important positive fallout of these low single-player tackles in New Zealand’s men’s club rugby was a remarkable 65 per cent growth in the number of offloads. Offloads make the game more dynamic, speed it up, exhaust defenders, and necessitate an improvement in the teams’ aerobic capacity. More importantly, offloads add more exciting and pleasurable elements to the game.
Blending this with lowering the tackle height and decreasing the permissible substitutions in each game, will undeniably decrease the incidence of brain injuries in the sport. Rugby Australia acknowledged this when they publicised the sternum tackle law to the Australian rugby fans. The New Zealand research offered substantial evidence proving a drastic reduction in concussions, over four times lesser compared to when the tackle was permitted above the sternum.
The introduction of the below-the-sternum law trial in 2023 was not without its benefits. There was a 7 per cent increase in men’s community rugby participation in New Zealand, while women’s and girls rugby saw an even larger increase of 20 per cent. It is clear to those familiar with the sport that these laws are making play safer.
Promoting low tackling and improved aerobic fitness which could potentially diminish the size and power of players during collisions, along with the aim of a minimum 60 minutes of actual game time, should result in a faster, safer, and more enjoyable game for both players and spectators alike.
Incorporating alterations in regulations for our 15s game that follow the patterns of our sevens has been touted as an unequivocal good move.