The quiet death of the once popular national provincial sevens

“We were just getting traction [in sevens] and now it’s not there anymore. It’s very disappointing."

A packed crowd at the Queenstown Recreation Ground for the national provincial sevens tournament.

From 2003, for a decade or so, many in the south circled a certain date in January and made sure they were in Queenstown.

The National Sevens rugby tournament held in the resort town was the place to be. It was sport mixed in with a festival-type environment and people flocked to it.

By 2009 the entire event in Queenstown was screened by Sky TV and by 2013 a women's competition was reinstated.

Queenstown had plenty going for it. The ground’s location right in the middle of town meant people could come and go, watch and bit of rugby, go get some food, and then return.

It was also held at a time of the year when Queenstown was chocker full of people looking for something to do.

The event continued to grow, and some would suggest the success of the once grassroots-run tournament in Queenstown prompted its eventual demise in the south.

As interest in the sevens game grew, as both a sport and event, so did the interest from New Zealand Rugby’s administrators.

New Zealand Rugby called for bids from potential host provinces.

The Bay of Plenty Rugby Union’s bid was preferred, and Rotorua was awarded hosting rights from 2014.

Queenstown was ousted.

“Sevens is rising in popularity across both the men's and women's games so we are very keen to make the most of this and Rotorua offers us the best opportunity to do that,” then New Zealand Rugby chief executive Steve Tew said at the time of the announcement.

“The National Sevens Tournament is a proven springboard for players to step up to the top level so it's important we safeguard the role it plays,” Tew added.

“We need greater capacity to cater for future expansion of the tournament both in terms of grounds and spectator facilities and Bay of Plenty provided a compelling package in that regard.”

However, empty stands graced the tournament in Rotorua. It was eventually shifted to Tauranga but it continued to gain little traction crowd-wise.

Then came Covid.

The national tournament was cancelled in 2020 because of Covid and what has followed has been a quiet death of the once-popular summer fixture.

It hasn’t been staged since, and little discussion has followed.

That talk of the need for a “greater capacity to cater for future expansion” of the event now seems a million miles away. Only the ghosts of the tournament’s past exist.

The national provincial sevens tournament struggled to attract crowds when it was shifted from Queenstown to Rotorua.

It was a costly exercise for New Zealand Rugby to put on such an event and priorities have changed, in terms of expenditure. There has been an increased investment in the women’s game which was probably overdue.

Dan Cavanagh was the Southland men’s sevens coach when the tournament faded into the distance.

Cavanagh was excited by what they were developing around the Southland sevens programme before it came to a halt.

Southland at times struggled but in 2019 - the last tournament played - Southland beat Wellington on the way to a quarterfinal berth.

“We were just getting traction [in sevens] and now it’s not there anymore. It’s very disappointing,” Cavanagh said.

“We were on the cusp of being a top-four team nationally. That was our goal, to try and be a [sevens] powerhouse. We had to bring in some players from outside, but those players had a link to Southland and were very good sevens players. What they did for our group was massive.”

“Unfortunately, it’s now all gone.”

Stags player Rory van Vugt’s journey with Southland rugby started with the sevens team. Photo: DEBBIE FAHEY

He said the sevens game provided many youngsters with an opportunity to wear the maroon Southland jersey on a national stage and some shone as a result.

Rory van Vugt was one of those players who started his rugby journey in Southland through the sevens system and is now a regular with the Stags in the 15s game.

Cavanagh also pointed out that the provincial sevens programme also played an important role in helping grow female rugby in Southland.

He did understand the financial commitment required to put on a national sevens tournament and the challenges that stemmed from that.

But when the closed sign was hoisted on that national provincial sevens tournament, it effectively was the death of sevens rugby in Southland - in a provincial sense at least.

Sevens is now largely restricted to a club tournament or two in Southland and they were used as preseason fitness for the looming 15s season.

Cavanagh said North Island provinces like Bay of Plenty - which is a national sevens hub - have been able to continue their sevens development working alongside neighbouring provinces where travelling distances are limited.

However, it is not quite as easy for a province like Southland to adopt a similar approach. And because of that Cavanagh said it would now be difficult for a sevens player to emerge from Southland.

“How do we expect the New Zealand Sevens team to perform at the Olympics if we are not grabbing players from all around the country?

“Granted, New Zealand Sevens won the [world] tournament last year, both men and women, so they could ultimately say, ‘we don’t need a national sevens tournament anyway’. I can see both ends.”

“You could see the cost involved in running a national tournament, it was huge. Now they are saving that money by not doing it and perhaps being able to provide [national] contracts that were a bit bigger than before.”

On top of the sevens-specific player development, the national provincial competition also provided a coaching pathway.

Cavanagh himself fell into that camp where he felt he was growing as a sevens coach before it all came to an end.

He did help the Woodlands Rugby Club in the 15s game, but his coaching passion was in sevens.

“I’ve stepped away from coaching now. I would have kept going with sevens if it was still around because it is quite a definite time. It’s a short sharp [campaign].

“And the game itself I enjoyed tactically because the smallest change in seven minutes can completely flip a game around.”

Cavanagh would personally love to see the return of the provincial sevens and would get back involved in coaching if that was the case.

Although he doesn’t hold a lot of hope for that to happen.

“I think if the All Blacks Sevens and the Black Ferns Sevens continue to do well on an international stage, why would New Zealand Rugby run a national tournament when they don’t really have to?

“The best players who do want to play sevens will probably realise that they are going to need to move to these more centralised provinces within the North Island to have a crack.”

He added national sevens contracts were also now being picked up by players straight out of school which further limited the need for the provincial pathway.