Sevens rugby is coming Los Angeles early, 4 years before it appears in the LA 2028 Olympic Games. The HSBC Sevens Series is the premier sevens rugby tournament in the world, featuring the best 12 men's and 12 women's teams. The Los Angeles leg of the series is always a popular event, and this year's tournament is shaping up to be even bigger and better than ever before.
If you attend from March 1-3, you can expect many things. Obviously, some world-class rugby is on the cards. The tournament will feature some of the most exciting rugby players in the world, including men and women from Fiji, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, the United States, and Canada. It will be a festive party-like atmosphere for sure. These Sevens tournaments are more than just rugby. They are more analogous to a festival with food, music, and other entertainment.
Another point of potential appeal this time around is the chance to see the future of rugby: The Los Angeles tournament will be one of the first opportunities to see the new-look sevens format, which will be used in the 2028 Olympics. Plenty of history will be made here. The LA event marks the first time since 2017 that both the men's and women's USA Sevens teams will be competing at the same time in Los Angeles. The US women's team is currently ranked second in the world, while the men's team is ranked ninth.
And the new format will suit the Americans. How, one may ask?
Well, this LA event will be the first to use the new sevens format, which features shorter matches (10 minutes instead of 14 minutes) and a seriously faster pace of play. The impact this will have on the game cannot be understated. It will be a shorter, faster paced and more exciting game. There will be fewer stoppages and more scoring opportunities. And the players will have less time to rest, so they will exert themselves more throughout the match, potentially leading to a more physical and intense game. So, there will be a greater emphasis on fitness and speed generally. And teams will need to adapt their tactics to the new format, with a greater emphasis on quick restarts, offloads, and counterattacks. The momentum on the field of play will also become more of a factor. With less time to recover from setbacks, teams will need to capitalize on scoring opportunities and avoid conceding penalties. The role of set-pieces such as scrums and lineouts may be significantly diminished.
Of course, these changes will impact the teams in different ways. Teams with a strong attacking game and quick players could benefit from the new format, such as Fiji, the US and New Zealand. Teams with a strong fitness base will be able to cope better with the increased physical demands, even though the games are shorter. Although, a shorter match format could also lead to more upsets, as weaker teams may theoretically have a better chance of holding onto a lead and thereby beating stronger teams. We will see what happens.
