Adelaide: Toughest Sevens Tournament in the World?
(Atlantis tournament #54b)
Emil Signes
March 2, 1997
July 28, 2013
A most unlikely venue for an event of this
magnitude, Adelaide is a
relatively quiet Australian city known for its proximity to wine
country. In sports, Adelaide focuses on Australian Rules
football, rugby is a minor sport, and the entire state of
South
Australia has never produced a home grown Wallaby.
Nevertheless, when the first Adelaide International
Provincial Sevens
was inaugurated in 1996, it produced a competition whose depth is
unmatched anywhere in the world. A virtual who’s who of
Super 12
teams promises to produce the same cutting edge rugby in the
sevens
arena as it has in 15s. In fact, based on recent play in
Hong
Kong, only the full national teams of New Zealand or Fiji would
likely
enter this field as favorites.
According to its Chairman Michael von Berg, the South Australia
Rugby
Union wanted to build on the tradition of the Elizabeth Sevens,
the
oldest continuous sevens tournament in the Southern Hemisphere
(since
1958). Together with Australia Major Events, an entity of
the
South Australia government, the SARU created the only sporting
event in
South Australia to have the government as a venture partner.
10
years of experience with Grand Prix racing provided the
infrastructure
necessary to run such a major international event.
Rather than compete with the Elizabeth Sevens, which takes place a
week
earlier, Adelaide now enhances the original tournament by making
it a
qualifier for admission into the Adelaide event.
Featuring only Southern Hemisphere teams last year, Adelaide added
Atlantis this year, and Atlantis’ 33-17 victory over Queensland,
combined with competitive performances in most of its other
matches,
proved they deserved to be there. In the future, according
to von
Berg, Adelaide hopes to grow the tournament still more. One
can
only imagine its potential.
Adelaide International Provincial Sevens, 1997. The 14
participants were divided into two pools.
Pool 1
Atlantis (USA)
Auckland (New Zealand) *
Counties (New Zealand)
Northern Transvaal (South Africa)
Queensland (Australia)
Wellington (New Zealand)
Western Province (South Africa)
Pool 2
Ba Province [Namoli Village] (Fiji) *
Bay of Plenty (New Zealand)
Natal (South Africa)
New South Wales (Australia)
North Harbour (New Zealand)
Otago (New Zealand)
South Australia
* Auckland, not an original invitee, qualified by reaching the
final of
the Elizabeth Sevens (the winner, Namoli of Fiji’s Ba Province,
was
already entered in Adelaide), and played as the Elizabeth
Cavaliers. Namoli, which had played under its own name in
Elizabeth, competed as Ba Province in Adelaide.
Teams entered at various levels of strength. Although
Wellington
entered a 100% professional team drawn directly from the Super 12
Hurricanes, other provinces were stingier with their Super 12
players. Nevertheless, great sevens specialists abounded and
more
than 10 All Black sevens players, as well as a smattering of
current
and potential 7s Wallabies and Springboks, participated. The
field was rounded out with Atlantis and Namoli, a village team
representing Fiji’s Ba Province. There was a bit of irony in
the
fact that all the professionals were eventually beaten by a team
of
amateurs from a small village.
Format. Each team played each other in its
pool. Following
the pool round, the tournament was broken down into three
tiers.
The first three teams in each pool entered the trophy round, where
they
contested for the the Weary Dunlop Trophy, named after an
Australian
rugby legend. The pool champions got a bye in the
quarterfinal
round of play, while teams 2 and 3 fought for the right to enter
the
semifinals, with the losers entering the Cup round. Teams 4
and 5
competed for the Cup directly, with losers dropping into the Plate
semifinals, and Teams 6 and 7 entered the Plate directly.
Substitution was virtually unlimited except that it had to occur
at a
stoppage of play, and was restricted to a squad of 10.
Players
that left the game were permitted to reenter. To
produce
games played consistently at a world-class work rate, this type of
substitution is essential. Unfortunately, 10 players on a squad
that
has to play nine games to win is not enough, and in the end teams
were
borrowing players left right and center from teams that had
already
been eliminated.
Venue. The tournament took place at Hindmarsh
stadium, South
Australia’s top soccer field, which is being renovated and
expanded. Despite construction, the surface was fantastic.
Onsite betting. South Australia is a bettor’s
paradise, and there
was actually a bookie stand in Hindmarsh stadium where fans could
place
their bets. The bookies gave not only the championship
odds, but even point spreads on every game.
The starting odds had the professional Wellington Hurricane squad
as a
3-1 favorite. Not far behind were Ba Province, Counties, Bay of
Plenty
and North Harbour. Western Province, which was to be the favorite
by
the end of the first day, started at 33-1, and Atlantis and South
Australia shared the long-shot role at 200-1.
Prize money. A pool of A$60,000 prize money was
shared among both
team and individual achievers. The Champions were to receive
A$33,000, and there was A$1500 each for the tournament MVP ("Best
and
Fairest"), best tackler, and the fastest player in a 100-m sprint.
Pool Matches. There were 42 pool matches (6 each for
each team)
which produced some fast and furious sevens as well as a few
surprises.
At the end of the pool round, the standings were
Place
|
Team
|
W
|
L
|
PF
|
PA
|
PD
|
Pool 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
Western Province (RSA)
|
5
|
1
|
160
|
66
|
+94
|
2
|
Wellington (NZL)
|
4
|
2
|
152
|
92
|
+60
|
3
|
Auckland (NZL)
|
4
|
2
|
139
|
88
|
+51
|
4
|
Counties (NZL)
|
4
|
2
|
133
|
93
|
+40
|
5
|
Queensland (AUS)
|
2
|
4
|
93
|
162
|
-69
|
6
|
Northern Transvaal (RSA)
|
1
|
5
|
94
|
182
|
-88
|
Pool 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
Ba Province (FIJ)
|
6
|
0
|
182
|
44
|
+138
|
2
|
North Harbour (NZL)
|
5
|
1
|
179
|
68
|
+111
|
3
|
Bay of Plenty (NZL)
|
4
|
2
|
147
|
91
|
+56
|
4
|
Natal (RSA)
|
3
|
3
|
136
|
116
|
+20
|
5
|
New South Wales (AUS)
|
2
|
4
|
131
|
135
|
-4
|
6
|
Otago (NZL)
|
1
|
5
|
84
|
183
|
-99
|
7
|
South Australia (AUS)
|
0
|
6
|
27
|
249
|
-222
|
Trophy Competition. Their first place finish enabled
both Western
Province and Ba Province to earn a bye in the seventh round of
play,
while Wellington and Bay of Plenty, then North Harbour and
Auckland,
battled it out for the right to join these teams in the
semi-finals. The winners were Wellington and North Harbour.
The crowd, which approached 10,000 on Saturday, saw a clinical
display
of sevens play in North Harbour’s 29-15 victory over Western
Province,
and then watched in awed disbelief as a Fijian village side took
apart
the pros from Wellington, allowing only a last second try in a
50-5
slaughter.
The final was an excellent game that was not decided until the
last
minute. Ba Province held off Peter Woods and his boys, and
did
what they had to do in a 29-19 victory. Added to their 7-0
show
the week before at the Elizabeth Sevens (where they had played as
Namoli), the Fijians were 15-0, and headed for South Africa and
the
Stellenbosch Sevens, to be played 2 weeks later.
The check of A$33,000 was appreciated by the Fijian team, which
will
share its money among the players, the club and the village of
Namoli.
Cup Competition. In the second tier of this
competition Bay of
Plenty struggled to get by Queensland 36-27 while Counties
disposed of
Auckland 49-29. In the final, Counties crushed the sevens
specialists from the Bay with superior athleticism 33-7.
Plate Competition. Natal won this third tier
competition, easily
defeating both Otago and New South Wales (47-19) to claim the
title.
Special awards. "Best and fairest" went, to the surprise of
most, to
20-year old Bobby Skinstad of Western Province. Best tackler
was
awarded to Vaimoso Faa’ofa, 25, of Counties (despite lobbying on
Atlantis’ part to get the award for Dave Lougheed), and the
"fastest
man" award went to 22-year old All Black 7s wing Roger Randle of
Wellington (Atlantis’ 19-year old Don Younger was a respectable
third).
You read it first here department. Both at Elizabeth
and
Adelaide, the crowd (and opposing players) were awed by the
incredible
side-stepping of 21-year old Auckland midfield player Te Rua
Tipoki. Whether or not Tipoki impressed New Zealand coach
Gordon
Tietjens enough to make the World Cup side is not clear, but if he
does
make the side and participates in Hong Kong, he’ll be
noticed.
Just remember . . . you read it first here. Oh, yes .
. .
Tipoki did it all in tennis shoes.
[Note of July 2013: Rua Tipoki went on to play for New Zealand
Sevens. He later moved to Ireland where he played 10
years at center for Munster (15s). He returned to New
Zealand in 2009 and I believe is still playing, at a lower
level.]
More tries than ever. As the millennium’s final
decade began,
sevens tournaments regularly produced about 5 tries a game, and we
all
thought that was phenomenal. With the new sevens laws that
have
been implemented during the decade, this number has gradually
grown,
and at Adelaide this year, there was an average of 6.7 tries per
14
minutes, or a try every 2.1 minutes. Given that it takes
about 30
seconds from scoring a try to the following kickoff, this means
that,
from the time the ball is kicked off, the average waiting time for
a
try is only about a minute and a half. . . . Incredible!
Finale. The tournament ended with all the players on
the field
saluting Ba Province as they did their lap of honor. Just
prior
to that, Adelaide’s rugby community was heartened by Australian
Rugby
Union Phil Harry’s announcement that the ARU will actively support
Adelaide’s bid to host a World Cup qualifier for the RWC Sevens
2001.
The lack of a post-match function was, however, missed by many in
the
playing contingent of the tournament, and we all hope that this is
not
a rugby tradition that will be lost in the new professional era.
Adelaide: The Cutting Edge of World Sevens. One
certainly hopes
that any World Cup qualifier will be in addition to, and not
instead
of, the current competition. As it grows, the Adelaide
Sevens
will become an indicator, each year, of new directions in world
sevens. New Zealand is using sevens to develop flair in its
15s
players, with good effect. Conversely, the influence of
Super 12
15s play is also influencing the way sevens is being played. This
was
obvious at Adelaide.
[Note of July 2013: I couldn't find any
repeats of this tournament as it was formatted in 1997, BUT
Adelaide became 5-year hosts to the Australia Sevens in the
World Series of Sevens (2007-11). I was there for the
first 3 of those years as video analyst for the US team, and
during the 2007 trip, at a tournament reception, happened to
run into a women with whom, in 1997, I had swapped Atlantis
kit for her "Stingers Rugby" jersey - she played for a club
called the Stingers in Australia and my daughter at the time
was playing for the Maryland Stingers.]
Despite all attempts to minimize its importance or
check its growth,
sevens continues to grow and delight fans and players alike.
Merely in its infancy, Adelaide has burst on the scene as a vital
tournament that will help shape the direction of sevens, and
possibly
even rugby, for years to come.