WORLD Rugby CEO Brett Gosper believes the standard of sevens rugby is increasing all the time and that the men’s and women’s series were again shaping-up to be very competitive.
Gosper said this was great for the sport, for fans and great for the IOC with the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on the horizon.
“Olympic inclusion has been a major success story for the sport with recent Nielsen research determining that it delivered at least 30 million new fans to the sport, thanks largely to its global reach,” Gosper said.
“What is encouraging about this fan base is that it is young, 50/50 male and female and experiencing the largest growth in rapidly-growing rugby nations such as the USA, Brazil and India.”
World Rugby will soon announce the hosts of the world series for the next four year cycle.
Fiji has put in its interest to host a tournament.
“We believe that a two or three day sevens event is a significant economic driver, attracting fans from overseas and shining a spotlight on the host city,” Gosper said.
“Rugby fans like to take in the full city experience and spend and this is very much part of the attraction for cities wishing to host a leg of the series and why we continue to experience strong hosting interest.”
The HSBC Las Vegas 7s takes place this weekend. Fiji is in Pool D with Wales, Scotland and Australia. Fiji’s games are against Scotland at 11.22am and Wales at 2.23pm on Saturday and at 7.52am against Australia.
