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23 March 2016
In many ways it took the city of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada to set several new standards for hosting and staging tournaments of the HSBC World Sevens series. Read on...
The players of the 16 competing international sevens rugby teams, and we of the following media, who had travelled up to Canada from the previous week’s activities at the 2016 Las Vegas sevens found a very warm welcome from the local officials of Vancouver. They were very excited about staging a sevens tour event for the first time.
Of course we kinda knew their welcome would be warm; Canadians are like that aren’t they? And we weren’t even put off from enjoying their new tournament by the local weather which was raining and pretty awful for the full week we were in town.
That’s because the first of the two key matters which will now mark the Canada tournament as distinct from every other in the event’s 16-season history were; 1) that the two days of action (45 games) was held on a flat even but full-sized artificial playing surface. That meant there was no excuse for sluggish play. Indeed the evenness of surface encouraged speedy, dynamic action which thrilled the crowds throughout.
The second exclusive factor was the superb BC Place stadium itself. It has a closed-roof design which has not been seen on any sevens tour tournament before. The locals had closed its roof days in advance of the playing action. That meant any outside elements were therefore shut out completely. That encouraged the crowds to come, umbrellas not required. In fact on day one so many fans turned up at the same time that there was early congestion at a number of the entry points. A nice problem to have I would have thought!
To be absolutely correct the artificial field was not exactly unique to the Vancouver event as part of the HSBC World Sevens Series. The previous week in Las Vegas the field there, in place at Sam Boyd Stadium had been synthetic too, but it had been widened from a previous American Football width of 59-metres so therefore was still not quite that of a full-sized rugby union field.
Canada’s conditions provided just that – the roof above was the bonus which made it unique, quite the best ever on the tour.
Speaking modestly I am one of the few who should know; I was there in Dubai in 1999 when the IRB sevens circuit made its tentative touring start. In about 110 stops which I have made since then the playing conditions for the sevens in Vancouver have never been bettered. I have to say it but new standards have been set.
To the point now where suddenly it might feel very strange for the best 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams when they set out in stern Olympic competition in Rio in August. Current photographs show that hard-working crews are in Rio trying to meet deadlines for constructing the simplest of fields set on the outskirts of town with marquees and temporary stands being manoeuvred into place. We are told teams might change to play in giant impermanent structures.
It will be at the very least a great contrast between the standards set in Vancouver and rugby’s newest and grandest showpiece event – the Olympic Games.
So bravo Canada!
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Hawkes Bay's Cyril Brownlie is sent off at Twickenham but the 'Invincible' All Blacks still fight hard with 14 men for a 17-11 win over England.
ANTARCTICA
Several international rugby matches (of sorts) have been played on the ice of Antarctica, so they should be recognized in an A-Z such as this.
In 1989 a group of scientists and staff started a match between USA and New Zealand. It is a fixture on the ice which has been played intermittently over the years since.
There are several unique features about rugby in Antarctica. Firstly the game is played on a snow-covered ice field and sometimes there have been no goal posts. Implanting posts into the rock-hard ice is nigh impossible. Sometimes the game has been delayed several days until the weather clears. The clothing the players wear is interesting; often it has been full kit needed for living in extremely cold temperatures. Sometimes too, the teams have been of mixed gender. And often it is not certain whether teams will be at full strength. One year a New Zealand squad gathered prospective players at 3pm, picked their best line up, and the game kicked off at 3.30!
In an international between the New Zealand Scott Base team and the USA McMurdo Base team in 2001, the New Zealanders scored three tries to one, but the score was posted in the weekly Antarctic Sun newspaper as being 9-3. Obviously the message had not made it through to the people on the ice of the increase in points values for a try! That had first happened over 30 years earlier!
Which prominent All Black back didn't play a test till after his 30th birthday?
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