(Photo by Tertius Pickard/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
Ex-Gloucester player Tim Lacey is the founder of Ultimate Rugby Sevens, and he was good enough to speak to The Rugby Blog about the Sevens World Cup, the Hong Kong Sevens this weekend and the prospect of Sevens being included as an Olympic Sport.
Firstly, what a fantastic World Cup, what was the atmosphere like at the ground on the final day?
Similarly to how it has gone in the IRB World Sevens Series this season, the World Cup was incredibly open with upsets galore.
During the quarter-finals, where the top four seeds all crashed out, the atmosphere was electric with 30,000 party loving, fancy dressed, sevens fans having the time of their life at the fabulous desert setting of ‘The Sevens’.
The notoriously raucous Kenyan fans led the way with a celebratory ‘dance’ around the pitch following their win over holders Fiji… superb!
Was anyone tipping Wales to win at the start of the competition?
With odds of 80-1, you would have to say no! The Welsh have had the odd flash-in-the-pan performance in the last few years (notably beating New Zealand in Wellington) but I haven’t heard of anyone who backed them for the World Cup.
What they have enjoyed is continuity of selection for 2-3 years, which seems to have been the key formula for success this season. In Dubai, it just seemed to click for them, playing intensive, creative, and physical sevens.
Is it now a case that the top 10 teams have caught up with the standards New Zealand and Fiji were setting in previous years? Do you think we will see semifinal lineups like Wales vs. Samoa and Argentina vs. Kenya again?
No doubt. It has been almost impossible to predict winners from the quarter/semi final line-ups at the last four IRB Series events, such are the fine margins between the top boys this year.
England, South Africa, and Argentina have raised the bar, whilst an injury-plagued New Zealand have struggled to maintain their sky-high standards.
Others, such as Wales, Kenya, Samoa and USA, clearly have what it takes; as they find greater consistency, we will increasingly see a host of new semi-final combinations. Always beware the Men in Black though…
Did you get a chance to speak to any of the IOC delegates? Do you think their opinions on Rugby Sevens’ inclusion in the Olympics changed during the course of the weekend?
I didn’t speak to the delegates myself, although saw them soaking it all up and spoke to a number of people who did speak to them. By all accounts, they thoroughly enjoyed themselves and were very impressed with the event.
There was some scintillating Sevens on display for them, with a number of games going into sudden death extra time and of course the upsets in the knock-out stages that saw the top four seeds all knocked out in the quarterfinals. Then to see four continents represented in the semi-finals is quite some statement.
Furthermore, the incredibly international crowd, the electric atmosphere and the large number of families and children in attendance would also have ticked some big boxes.
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