Cape Town — The Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town at the weekend didn't lack any action, but two things that were definite fails were the format and the schedule.
The quadrennial event featured the same knock-out format as in 2018, when teams also had to win every single game to have a chance of becoming world champions.
In the build-up to the event, the format made almost every article relating to the first Sevens World Cup to take place in Africa and the pressure factor, and for good reason.
While there are those who feel that the tournament structure adds some extra thrill, it makes the event — and the result — feel like more of a gamble than anything else, and that should never be the case when it comes to a sporting event as big as a world cup, or any event that athletes only get to compete in every four years.
The Blitzboks were the prime example of everything that could go wrong with that format and schedule.
Yes, they were far from good enough in their second match of the weekend against Ireland and were knocked out of contention for the Melrose Cup on Saturday night, but they again showed how they can bounce back from defeat and an uncharacteristic display to produce a fantastic performance against Samoa in their fourth and final match of the weekend to finish in seventh place.
Out of the 37 World Series Cup finals the Blitzboks have played, they've won 22. And how many of those tournaments do you think they went through undefeated before ultimately lifting the trophy?
Point is, the straight knock-out format of the World Cup allows for no dips, and bouncing back from disappointment and disruption is at the very core of champion teams. Yet, when it comes to the Sevens World Cup, there is no room for such qualities. Instead, the event seems to be more focused on cramming as much and as many teams as possible into three days and providing smaller teams a stage on which to perform. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with that, but it shouldn't be at the expense of the quality and integrity of the event.
And then there was that schedule.
In what world can a Sevens team be expected to have a 27-hour gap between their first two games, how would that be conducive to any team?
If the goal was to ensure that the fans (of which a majority were locals) remain at stadium till the very end and arrive early the next morning (the Blitzboks played their fifth-place play-off against Argentina just after 11am on Sunday), and if that was of more importance than ensuring the hosts have a fair chance by giving them a reasonable schedule, than that list of priorities is problematic in itself.
This isn't aimed at taking anything away from Fiji — they were sensational in the men's final against New Zealand and so too were the history-making Australian women against the Kiwis, but it needs to be addressed.
The Rugby World Cup Sevens, given that there are more teams competing than in the World Series over the same number of days, understandably has more time constraints, but organisers just need to do better to find a solution and do away with this format.
After their game against Ireland, outgoing Blitzboks coach Neil Powell apologised to South Africa for their performance, but if anybody needs to do any apologising, it's whoever contributed to both the format and the Blitzboks' ridiculous tournament schedule.
IOL Sport