IPSHA 7s Competition

[Quick Hands]

I understand that from this season, the smaller private primary schools will be playing 7s instead of 12 a-side rugby. Each team will play 2 games every Saturday morning over the season, with all matches held at Koola Park in 9s, 10s, 11s and 12s.

This week will be the first week and I reliably informed that members of the Australian 7s squad will be in attendance offering support and signing autographs.

A great initiative all round - many of these schools struggled to compete against the bigger schools due to player depth.

Competing schools include, Kings, Cranbrook, Alos, NC Lindfield, Grammar St Ives, Arden, Redlands, Coogee Prep., Mosman Prep.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Good for Grammer Snives. Cranbrook and Coogee Prep parents might get a bit jack of having to go to Killara every saturday.

7's is a great vehicle to engage kids in rugby, particularly where the school population is small.

This is a good progressive sign of a rugby administration mob "doing the right thing" by the kids to keep the game interesting, and fun.

 

[Quick Hands]

Good for Grammer Snives. Cranbrook and Coogee Prep parents might get a bit jack of having to go to Killara every saturday.

7's is a great vehicle to engage kids in rugby, particularly where the school population is small.

This is a good progressive sign of a rugby administration mob "doing the right thing" by the kids to keep the game interesting, and fun.

First year it's been on and I think that Newington Lindfield might have been one of the schools pushing hard for it. Maybe they offered and no-one else wanted to run it?

EDIT: I gather that it met some opposition from traditionalists in the bigger schools, so as a compromise it has to be called Mod rugby and not 7s.

 

[Quick Hands]

Great morning up at Koola Park for the first round of the IPSHA 7s. Well done to the ARU for having many of the mens and womens 7s Wally squads in attendance. The kids loved it.

 

[Quick Hands]

G

7's is a great vehicle to engage kids in rugby, particularly where the school population is small.

This is a good progressive sign of a rugby administration mob "doing the right thing" by the kids to keep the game interesting, and fun.

I went up to Koola Park again today.

I had a bit of a chat to the guy from IPSHA who seemed to be in charge of the whole thing.

The schools in it are the smaller schools and also some of the larger schools are putting their novice and lower level players into this rather than traditional rugby.

From what I saw today, TKS had two teams, both largely made of of boys of sub-continental or south-east Asian heritage. Great way to introduce boys from outside the anglo saxon masses to rugby. We have to appeal to a more diverse society to thrive.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

How did this competition end up?

Has it been deemed a success and will they be sticking with it for 2015?

 

[Quick Hands]

I'm told it was a roaring success and will most likely have more schools in it next year. The smaller schools put their teams into it as they don't have the numbers to compete in 10 or 12 a side and the bigger schools put their novice or lower grade teams in.

Watching this competition has sold me on the tremendous value that 7s gives us in expansion, widening our demographic and providing an opportunity for boys and girls to play rugby.

And as an added positive, it was given pretty good support by NSWRU. They had an employee there every week and also used it to give young referees some experience. The Australian mens' and womens' 7s teams also paid a visit in one of the early weeks.

If everything that rugby does was as successful as this, we'd have no worries whatsoever.

 

[Crashy]

I just posted a note on another thread regarding a full page story on the back page of the Manly Daily talking about a girl who had made the Australian women 7s team. She has decided to move from basketball and there was a full page photo of her in 7s kit with a Gilbert and made me realise that 7s will be the vehicle to massively growth rugby in Australia – after all half of Australia are female.
Stories such as these didn’t exist a few years ago bu the main challenge should be to funnel 7s players into 15s.