Olympic potential makes sexy Sevens worth a punt

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

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http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/olym...nt-1657633.html

There's a good chance that the announcement last week of the Ireland Sevens squad for the World Cup in Dubai next month didn't take up too much space in your life. So you probably won't be rushing off to Dublin Airport today to wave them off. You didn't know they were flying out then? Oh, okay. And the World Cup, you reckoned it was, well, something we weren't quite on board with? That's okay too because your leaders in Lansdowne Road feel a bit the same way. Their feet are under the table all right but their gaze is fixed on some point out the window and off in the distance.

They are being distracted by euro signs. It won't cost the IRFU to send the squad of 12 players and six management to Dubai because the IRB are picking up the tab for travel and accommodation, but the union maintain that they were lighter by â'¬250,000 in getting them into some sort of shape to go there.

That involved qualifying through the European Championships in Germany last year and then a two-day spin to Portugal last week where they played the hosts, their A side, and Tunisia, as well as training camps for both events. Sounds like a lot of cash for not a lot of activity, but there you go.

This is money the union don't want to spend. Ideally -- from their point of view -- the whole thing would go away, but they couldn't ditch it while Syd Millar was lord of all he surveyed in the IRB, and no sooner had he gone out to pasture in Ballymena, but the push to get Sevens into the Olympics moved up a gear under Millar's replacement, Bernard Lapasset.

So they limp along, turning up when they have to, but not getting on board with the World Series, the circuit of eight tournaments where the serious nations hone their skills. As it happens, we have three of those in our pool in Dubai: Samoa, Australia and Portugal. This has the potential to be embarrassing, and Setanta will be beaming the pictures into your home pretty soon.

In order for us to get serious about Sevens, it would take an investment of â'¬350,000 a season. Just as important it would require a political shift, first to identify players at the start of the season and then work to free them up to get the exposure they need. The IRFU maintain that they don't have the human resources to do it -- this is arrant nonsense given that the Scots do it with half our number of professional players -- and neither do they have the cash. It's harder to argue with them on the second issue.

Hard, but not impossible. This has been a remarkable few weeks for the IRFU. At every turn when people are being hit with reasons why investment in anything is unthinkable, first they nail down Aviva for â'¬40m over 10 years for putting their name over the door on Lansdowne Road, and then they replace Canterbury with Puma in what is understood to be the biggest sponsorship deal in the history of Irish sport. For an eight-year arrangement, which has yet to be unveiled officially, the union will pick up in excess of â'¬40m.

The Aviva money will be split three ways between the IRFU, the FAI and the Lansdowne Road Stadium Development Company, but will all end up paying for the bricks and mortar. Inevitably, servicing the debt on Lansdowne will pick up a chunk of the Puma money as well. Moreover, there is an air of inevitability that the â'¬3.7m the union picks up annually from the Sports Council is about to be savaged, so despite the high-profile deals they are still under the pump.

Of course this doesn't make them unique, but there is a lesson in how these deals were done in the first place. And it is that rugby is a high-profile sport that can attract money from the business community even in hard times. Why? Because even in recession there are those out there who believe that selling is enhanced by hitching their wagon to a successful product. And rugby is a successful product which will look even better when the new stadium comes on stream next year. In fairness to the IRFU, they're not too shabby at making this case when they're looking for investment, so why not extend the campaign to Sevens?

Between the World Cup next weekend and the prospect in October of a positive decision for the inclusion of Sevens in the Olympics, the short game is getting sexy. Which means saleable. Are we any use at it? Not now, but we could be.

"The only thing going against us is a lack of experience at tournament time," said Ireland's Sevens coach Jon Skurr, as he was packing his bag for the off today. And the only way to get that experience is to invest.

Ireland Rugby World Cup Sevens Squad: G Brown (Leinster), K Campbell (Connacht, capt), B Carney (Munster), J Coughlan (Munster), C Doyle (Munster), T Gleeson (Munster), E Grace (Shannon), F Jones (Shannon), P Marshall (Ulster), D Riordan (Connacht), K Tonetti (Leinster), B Tuohy (Cornish Pirates). Manager, H McCaughey; Coach, Jon Skurr.

Match Schedule

Thursday: v Samoa, 6.0; Friday: v Australia, 2.40; v Portugal, 4.50 (Knock-outs on Saturday)[/b]

^^^

That's an article which appears in today's Sunday Independent. There are some interesting things to be gleamed from it. First of all, the Puma deal seems to be worth about 5m per year which is more than double what was previously reported. Secondly is the sponsorship deal signed with Aviva which is worth 40m over a decade. Finally is the figure of 350,000 per year which it would reportedly cost to enter a team into the World Sevens Series. In light of the sponsorship deals with Puma and Aviva, allied with the growing commercial clout of Leinster and Munster, why don't Ireland enter a team in Sevens competition on a regular basis?

Unquestionably we'd hear the "Ireland is in a recession and we need to cut our cloth" excuse trotted out. I think that would be a phony excuse. 350,000 more than likely less than the combined salaries given over to players like Chris Whitaker, Nick Williams, Cameron Jowitt, Rob Dewey, Tim Donnelly and Troy Nathan - guys who do nothing to improve he quality of Irish rugby. Hell, there are plenty of duff Irish players in the provincial ranks who could be cast aside too in order to save money. Would cutting this dead wood out of the system and replacing it with a Sevens team not be worthwhile?

The potential benefits are huge. Ian Keatley, Darren Cave and Keith Earls all played Sevens at the end of last season and all made the breakthrough this year. It's no coincidence. Sevens helped them develop their offloading skills, tackling and appreciation of space. If they can improve on those aspects of play in just a couple of lesser tournaments, surely it would be of benefit to enter a squad into the 10 round proper tour. Some of the present u20 Grand Slam hopeful squad wold benefit hugely from touring. Ian McKinley, Ian Madigan, Peter O'Mahoney and Rhys Ruddock for example could be afforded the opportunity of showcasing their talent at a higher level, as well as a completely different format, to the AIL. Even just travelling to the various venues and getting out of their comfort zone would help their development.

It's time the IRFU paid Sevens more than just a passing interest.