Sevens may become rugby’s version of cricket’s T20
THE telephone line was crystal clear as Bryan Habana walked around his French home after getting back from training with Toulon.
I’d called him to have a chat about life over there, the adjustments and rugby. And, the inevitable, “do you intend finishing your career by playing for Team South Africa Sevens at the Rio Olympics?”
This was about a year ago, and the Springbok legend was as giving of his time as he usually is. Habana is a rugby icon and one of the most recognisable faces in South African sporting history, though he remains as down-to-earth as he was from day one.
His answer was as predictable as it was professional.
“That’s a long time away that you’re talking about,” he said. “My focus right now is with Toulon, then, if I’m blessed to be picked for the Springboks, the Rugby World Cup. I’m not looking past 2015.”
It is a sort of routine answer that the modern pro- fessional sportsperson rolls out, “I’m taking it one game at a time,” reference. Yet, in Habana’s case, it was a reflection of the commitment he gives to one job at a time.
More than a decade after debuting for the SA Sevens, Habana, now 32, is back in that Sevens fold as they build momentum towards Rio 2016.
“He’s added such a different dynamic,” gushed Sevens captain Kyle Brown this week. “Bryan’s such a professional and so experienced that it’s rubbing off on all of us.”
Having won just about every major medal there is in the sport, Habana – who is a 117-cap Springbok veteran – is surely nearing the twilight of his career in an international knowing it. After all, who would have thought that the introduction of T20 cricket would swallow up other formats and become the biggest money-spinner in the game.
The kids love T20, less so Test cricket. And maybe rugby is showing signs of heading the same way. Bollocks, I hear you cry. However, a look at the opening week of Super Rugby actual crowd attendances suggest otherwise. The Kings hosted the Sharks in Port Elizabeth and fewer than 12 000 people attended – a far cry from when the Kings were in their debut season in 2014.
Super Rugby is a novelty in Japan and Argentina, and one would expect good crowds in their debut season, but what of established countries. Rugby stadiums in South Africa are showing large swathes of empty seats, as do those in Australia and New Zealand.
Compare that to the Sevens circuit, where everything is a sell-out. The two-day Cape Town Sevens event saw over 110 000 people pass through the gates in those two days ,and a fortune was made on merchandise, food and drink.
Cape Town had a party that weekend, and even the Minister of Sport, Fikile Mbalula, was dancing on the touchlines.
That carnival atmosphere stretches to other ports of call on the World Sevens circuit.
It feels like we’ve gone back a few years, when T20 was finding its feet.
The injection of 15-man stars like Habana and Sonny Bill Williams can only increase the awareness and appeal. In a world that has speeded up, and where attention spans last 140 Twitter characters, Sevens is on the rise. And once it takes root in an emerging huge country like the USA, that will surely threaten the 15-man game in those countries.
T20 was always designed to attract new faces to cricket, to allow them to enjoy themselves at a short game and then get on with their nights. It was designed as entertainment, as opposed to serious sport. Even the Aussies didn’t take it seriously to begin with.
Think of the warm-up to the 2005 Ashes and you get the picture.
Sevens is, at this stage, entertainment, with 15s the real deal. Who can guarantee that will be the case in 2026?