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[CCS]

Since there are OTs for other sports, and many people may be unfamiliar with the great game of sevens, I thought I'd create this thread.

What is sevens?

Sevens is a form of rugby where the number of players on a team is reduced from 15 to 7, played in two 7 minute halves. Sevens emphasises running and handling skills more that traditional rugby, making for a faster paced game.

Okay, but how do you play it?

The basic principles of sevens are the same as standard rugby. By running with the ball and passing the ball backwards, the teams attempt to get to the other end of the pitch and ground the ball in the opposition's in goal area. When a try is scored, a team then attempts a conversion by trying to kick the ball over the posts from in line with where the try is scored. A try is worth 5 points, and a conversion is worth 2 points.

You can also score by drop kicking the ball over the posts in open play or by place kicking from goal when awarded a penalty (both worth 3 points). Penalties are awarded for most deliberate infringements of the rules.

Who is competing?

Below are the mens and womens draws for Rio 2016:

What is the format?

There are three groups of four. The top two in each group and the two best third-placed teams go through to the quarter finals, which then proceed to the semis and the final.

Who are the favourites?

In the mens it is Fiji and New Zealand, in the womens New Zealand and Australia.

I've never watched rugby, will I recognise anyone?

The Patriots' Nate Ebner is in the US squad. He will likely not start, but due to the fast-paced and tiring nature of sevens every substitute will normally play a fair amount.

When are the matches?

Full fixture list here: https://www.rio2016.com/en/rugby-sevens

Please note all times are local time.

Saturday 6th August - Today's games

11:00 Women Pool B France Spain
11:30 Women Pool B New Zealand Kenya
12:00 Women Pool C Great Britain Brazil
12:30 Women Pool C Canada Japan
13:00 Women Pool A United States Fiji
13:30 Women Pool A Australia Colombia
16:00 Women Pool B France Kenya
16:30 Women Pool B New Zealand Spain
17:00 Women Pool C Great Britain Japan
17:30 Women Pool C Canada Brazil
18:00 Women Pool A United States Colombia
18:30 Women Pool A Australia Fiji

Why should I watch Sevens?

I'll let the Fijian team take it away:

The beautiful team tries

The handling


The power

And the occasional hilarious mistake

 

[Succinct Verbosity]

Love sevens - the pace and furiousity is great entertainment.

 

[Chichikov]

I love sevens, I try to go to the Hong Kong 7s every year, it's beyond awesome. Great addition to the olympics.
I'm rooting for Fiji, they play great, their fans are awesome and they never won an olympic medal.

 

[CCS]

I love sevens, I try to go to the Hong Kong 7s every year, it's beyond awesome. Great addition to the olympics.
I'm rooting for Fiji, they play great, their fans are awesome and they never won an olympic medal.

I've always wanted to make it to the Hong Kong 7s... one day I will.

I love Fiji, will be supporting them too. Best day I've ever had at the 7s was with a bunch of Fijian guys, just the best rugby fans there are.

 

[azyless]

Never knew rugby sevens only had 7 minutes halves. It must be a lot faster than "normal" rugby then. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[SatoAilDarko]

It being in the new Mario and Sonic at the Rio Olympic games piqued my interest.

 

[CCS]

It being in the new Mario and Sonic at the Rio Olympic games piqued my interest.

I didn't know it was in that, that's really great!

Also, if you want to see some fantastic 7s play, here are the best tries from a couple of seasons ago

 

[Chichikov]

Never knew rugby sevens only had 7 minutes halves. It must be a lot faster than "normal" rugby then. I'm looking forward to it.

It has a completely different feel than rugby union.
I don't know how they're going to set it up at the Olympics exactly, but in the 7s series it's 7 minutes halves, 3 minutes halftime and 5 minutes between matches.
You get to watch a ton of matches in a day and it's fun as hell.

 

[catmincer]

Yay more gold medals for New Zealand!

 

[LiquidSolid]

Yay more gold medals for New Zealand!

Yeah, I wouldn't get too ahead of myself if I were you. The Australian women's team were by far the best in their world series this year, while on the men's series, we were all over the place, mostly thanks to way too many injuries happening at the wrong time and constantly screwing with the make-up of the team. We've got a good shot but I'd still name Fiji and SA as the favourites.

It'll be interesting to see how Great Britain works. Theoretically they should be one of the favourites, since they're combining three teams into one but as we often see with the Lions, that can often be a disadvantage as well.

 

[KingSnake]

I love sevens. It's like taking the most spectacular part of rugby union and put it on faster and repeat play. Can't wait for this, it's a great addition to Olympics.

 

[elfinke]

I love sevens. It's like taking the most spectacular part of rugby union and put it on faster and repeat play. Can't wait for this, it's a great addition to Olympics.

Yep, totally agreed on all counts.

 

[CCS]

Yeah, I wouldn't get too ahead of myself if I were you. The Australian women's team were by far the best in their world series this year, while on the men's series, we were all over the place, mostly thanks to way too many injuries happening at the wrong time and constantly screwing with the make-up of the team. We've got a good shot but I'd still name Fiji and SA as the favourites.

It'll be interesting to see how Great Britain works. Theoretically they should be one of the favourites, since they're combining three teams into one but as we often see with the Lions, that can often be a disadvantage as well.

I'm not convinced by Britain's chances, team is horribly balanced. Too many English players and not enough Scots.

Also, another reason to cheer on Fiji: They have never won an Olympic medal before.

 

[AnotherDayAnotherDollar]

My fellow Americans. Watch this! This sport will kick your ass and make you wonder why it's not more popular in the US. I started watching Rugby VIIs and eventually got in the XVs as well (we just launched a pro league this year). It's physical, exciting, fast, and full of points.

Fiji is undoubtedly the favorites, but New Zealand and South Africa winning would not be an upset. UK and Australia are also favorites. The most exciting players, IMO, are americans. They are not even the best players on the team, but Carlin Isles and Perry Baker hitting that corner and it's a wrap, they won't be caught. The US has an outside chance of winning gold or at least medaling. As does Argentina, and even Kenya has a shot.

From the women's side it's gonna be NZ, Australia, Canada, and possibly the UK. The US hasn't played well and everyone else is a notch below.

 

[Dr Campino]

Surprised to see no Canadian men in the tournament, but maybe I'm overestimating their quality.

I think the women are good, though, they absolutely ran through the competition at last year's Pan Am Games.

 

[CCS]

Surprised to see no Canadian men in the tournament, but maybe I'm overestimating their quality.

I think the women are good, though, they absolutely ran through the competition at last year's Pan Am Games.

Basically because of how qualification works, they lost the tournament for the North America spot to the US so they would have had to win the final qualification tournament featuring Samoa and Spain amongst others, where Spain pulled off a shock victory over Samoa to qualify.

 

[Dr Campino]

Basically because of how qualification works, they lost the tournament for the North America spot to the US so they would have had to win the final qualification tournament featuring Samoa and Spain amongst others, where Spain pulled off a shock victory over Samoa to qualify.

Ah well. I'll root for Canada for the women and Fiji or NZ for the men.

 

[CCS]

10 minutes until the first game!!

 

[obin_gam]

I have no knowledge in rugby, but am super pumped for this!
Don't know who to root for, but NZ have cool uniforms so I'll have those as favs.

 

[CCS]

I have no knowledge in rugby, but am super pumped for this!
Don't know who to root for, but NZ have cool uniforms so I'll have those as favs.

I hope you enjoy it!

New Zealand are a good pick

 

[Peru]

 

[pulsemyne]

Jeez the stadium is pretty much empty.

 

[CCS]

Jeez the stadium is pretty much empty.

Yeah, very disappointing to see.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

I don't know anything about rugby (played lacrosse in high school, watch occasional American football) but this is pretty dope so far. I like that there isn't a lot of stop and go. If this was more popular in the states, I could see getting into this.

 

[Peru]

Most event stadiums have been pretty empty so far. Will fill up for finals but we're already hearing stories about having to give away tickets - maybe rethink the crazy expensive prices pre-tournament?

 

[azyless]

Jeez the stadium is pretty much empty.

A lot of the venues are nowhere near packed. Still heard a couple "Allez les bleues" so that's nice
I'm not used to seeing women's rugby, I love the olympics for giving me that.

 

[pulsemyne]

Most event stadiums have been pretty empty so far. Will fill up for finals but we're already hearing stories about having to give away tickets - maybe rethink the crazy expensive prices pre-tournament?

You would think they would have figured out that having high ticket prices in a relatively poor country would mean the venues would be empty.

 

[obin_gam]

I love that it's like a bloodless version of Blood Bowl

Does this version of rugby get bloody or are the matches too short for people to get hurt?

 

[CCS]

I love that it's like a bloodless version of Blood Bowl

Does this version of rugby get bloody or are the matches too short for people to get hurt?

Occasionally, sometimes someone will get caught by a boot or something but generally it doesn't get particularly bloody.

 

[Peru]

Great addition to the olympics

 

[CreeperBlocks]

New Zealand is pretty damn good

 

[KingSnake]

New Zealand is too good.

 

[obin_gam]

lol wonder how many points they'd gotten if the match was longer

#decimation

 

[CCS]

New Zealand on fire.

Britain v Brazil next, Brazil I believe are the lowest ranked team at the Olympics.

COME ON GB!

 

[Juicy Bob]

Come on ladies!

 

[CCS]

Please can we stop dropping it? Pleeeeeease

 

[obin_gam]

Poor Brazil, they try and try but it looks slippery

 

[moffattron9000]

Well I'm not fearing Britain in the slightest.

 

[CCS]

Well I'm not fearing Britain in the slightest.

The only real positive for Britain is that we can play much better than that.

 

[RBH]

Nice thread!

This will be a good introduction for me to rugby. Kinda reminds me of the condensed T20 format of cricket.

 

[CreeperBlocks]

Yay Canada!

 

[CCS]

Nice thread!

This will be a good introduction for me to rugby. Kinda reminds me of the condensed T20 format of cricket.

Thank you!

 

[Kazerei]

Just tuned in to Canada vs. Japan. I'm rooting for Canada and this is hard to watch D:

 

[obin_gam]

Holy majoly, these Fiji-ladies are aggressive!

 

[Prototype Viktor]

Go women's USA for my waifu

 

[CCS]

Fiji are just so great. Both the men's and women's teams.

Love them.

 

[obin_gam]

So basically, the south pacific owns this sport

I'd wager NZ v. Fiji in the finals

 

[CCS]

What a fantastic try saving tackle by Kenya!

 

[CCS]

Less than an hour until today's Sevens starts!

Will the USA qualify? Will Britain beat Canada? Can anyone stop Australia?

 

[azyless]

New Zealand is so much better than us. We're already qualified for the next round thankfully (where we should play the loser of Canada-GB if I've understood things correctly).