Wellngton 7's: 28 & 29 January

[waiopehu oldboy]

Ticket sales are not going well, only ~1300 as of mid-December & the organisers aren't saying how many since. All they have said is that they're slightly ahead of last year where attendance was ~15K each day: Westpac holds 34K so expect to see plenty of empty yellow seats.

EDIT: Deputy Mayor of Wellywood has gone public urging people to go along, possibly 'cos last year it cost WCC $150K out of a total loss of $300K. Chair of the local Hospitality Association has been quoted as not expecting a big weekend: back in the early days of the tournament when tickets sold out in a matter of minutes every pub within walking distance of the Stadium would've been packed out both days.

Standings after two legs:

1. South Africa (41)
2. England (39)
3. Fiji (32)
4. Scotland (27)
5. New Zealand (27)
6. Wales (25)
7. Australia (18)
8. USA (18)
9. France (18)

Full standings: http://www.worldrugby.org/sevens-series/standings

Pool A: England, Kenya, Argentina, Papua New Guinea
Pool B: South Africa, Fiji, Australia, Japan
Pool C: New Zealand, USA, France, Samoa
Pool D: Scotland, Wales, Russia, Canada

Fixtures list: http://www.worldrugby.org/sevens-series/stage/1686/fixtures

EDIT: it says "Match times local to event" but I can't see them starting at 08:00 & playing the GF at 17:30 so I'm assuming it's actually "Match times local to you". Can a non-resident of Banjoland please confirm: if you're in a state of Straya that has daylight savings I suspect the start time will be given as 09:00.

 

[Highlander35]

Kickoff 9am ADST.

Thought I'd maybe get to this one being in New Zealand at the time, but am in Wellington on Friday rather than Saturday.

Ah well. Someone else will have to update scores and make angry comments about non-Australian/New Zealand sides.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

^^^^^^^^ first tournament I went to (2000, I think) was Friday/ Saturday but I've a feeling that was due to the Friday being a holiday. I seem to recall another year where they had a Friday night round of ~3 hours & a shorter Saturday. I reckon Las Vegas has the best format, spreading it over three days makes it much more viewer-friendly IMO.

 

[wamberal]

Hong Kong is the most enduringly successful. Then again, they have some huge advantages (which took a long time to exploit, TBF).

 

[amirite]

Interesting this event is not going well. We keep hearing 7s is the golden goose from some, and in some ways it is, but it's not that simple really.

It'd love to see a nation try something crazy and host a 7s tournament rurally and stage it with a 'music festival' type model. Camping, sideshows, food, the whole deal. Why not?

 

[RugbyReg]

The IRB 7s? Accommodation for a start. Travel. Getting players and officials there. Quality of facilities is another. Broadcast services. Sponsor access.

As for a national event, isn't that what they do with the Central Coast comp etc?


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[Braveheart81]

I don't understand why both the NZRU and World Rugby aren't pushing to move the events within each country every couple of years.

Hopefully the ARU learns from this in regards to Sydney.

There is a significant novelty factor with the 7s and for the core rugby audience in that city (that you need attending), you can't expect them to go every year. They go the first year, lots go the second year as well and then they gradually drop away (before being keen to go again a couple of years after that).

 

[wamberal]

Hong Kong goes on, year after year after year.

 

[Highlander35]

Dubai and Las Vegas have been going reasonably strong for 18ish and 7ish years respectively too.

 

[zer0]

Wellington was also doing just fine for years until the Fuzz and local busy bodies managed to grind the event into the ground.

 

[Braveheart81]

Hong Kong goes on, year after year after year.

Dubai and Las Vegas have been going reasonably strong for 18ish and 7ish years respectively too.

Sure, but which cities' attendance patterns do you think will provide a better guide for the ongoing success of the respective NZ and Australian 7s tournaments?

I certainly wouldn't be betting on a Sydney 7s event selling out year after year for a decade nor Wellington's crowd rebounding substantially if they toned down security slightly.

 

[Dan54]

Wellington was also doing just fine for years until the Fuzz and local busy bodies managed to grind the event into the ground.

Tend to think it had run it's course zer0, the same people going along getting pissed year in and year out does tend to wear thin on the participants, I had a few nephews who went 3-4 times and stopped because they grew out of it!!

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

I don't understand why both the NZRU and World Rugby aren't pushing to move the events within each country every couple of years......

The hosting rights for 2017-18-19 were put up for grabs last year & only Wellywood put in a bid. I can't see NZRU underwriting it unless they absolutely have to, which right now they don't.

 

[zer0]

Tend to think it had run it's course zer0, the same people going along getting pissed year in and year out does tend to wear thin on the participants, I had a few nephews who went 3-4 times and stopped because they grew out of it!!

For certain demographics, perhaps. There are plenty of others demographics who are younger and/or located further from Wellington who would've gone in recent years were it not for the oppressive fun police.

Besides, if it's not going to be hosted at Wellington then the IRB might as well drop NZ from the circuit, because, as has been said, no other cities even bothered to apply for hosting rights when they came up.

 

[barbarian]

I think the NZRU would move the Wellington 7s in a heartbeat, if they had anywhere to move it to.

Only three cities really could do it IMO - Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin. Auckland have the very popular 9s, and the timing of the event (out of Uni time) means that Dunedin would be something of a ghost town.

I feel for the NZRU, but maybe it's time to rest this for a few years and find another country to host it. Even go to Fiji for a one-off, or Nairobi or Argentina etc etc.
.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

^^^^^^^^^ agree re. Auckland & Dunners but I reckon Hamilton would be an excellent venue IF the City & Regional Councils & local businesses such as Gallaghers (big supporters of Club, Waikato & Chiefs rugby already) could be persuaded to help underwrite it. Tauranga & New Plymouth would also be viable options but, again, you'd need the Councils on board plus local businesses & of course NZRU. Ultimately I think NZRU has to commit early to bearing at least 1/3 of the risk, that would IMO make it easier to get the Councils & business community to commit.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Four newbies (marked *) in the NZ 14 named for Wellywood:

Scott Curry (Bay of Plenty, c), Dylan Collier (Southland), DJ Forbes (Counties Manukau), Iopu Iopu-Aso (Taranaki), Trael Joass* (Tasman), Rocky Khan (Auckland), Andrew Knewstubb* (Tasman), Vilimoni Koroi* (Otago), Tim Mikkelson (Waikato), Sione Molia (Counties Manukau), Tone Ng Shiu* (Tasman), Sherwin Stowers (Counties Manukau), Isaac Te Tamaki (Waikato), Regan Ware (Bay of Plenty).

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Tournament GM says he's happy with ticket sales:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/...evens-boss-happy-with-tournament-ticket-sales

Translation: 15K a day is as good as it's gunna get..........

 

[Mustafa]

Qantas Australian Men’s Sevens squad, Wellington.

1. Henry Hutchison
2. Tom Kingston
3. Sam Myers
4. Alex Gibbon
5. James Stannard
6. Tate McDermott*
7. Boyd Killingworth
8. Dylan Pietsch*
9. Tim Anstee
10. Michael Adams
11. Charlie Taylor
12. Conor Mitchell
13th man - Simon Kennewell
*Denotes uncapped
FIXTURE

Day One – Saturday 28 January
Australia v Fiji, Pool B, 9.46am (AEDT)
Australia v South Africa, Pool B, 1.33pm (AEDT)
Australia v Japan, Pool B, 4.52pm (AEDT)

 

[RugbyReg]

McDermott is a nippy little halfback from the Sunshine Coast who has the chance to showcase is playmaking abilities as a back up for Stannard.


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