After the decision by the International Olympic Committee to reintroduce rugby among the Olympic disciplines starting with the 2016 edition in Rio de Janeiro, rugby sevens, more commonly known as Seven in the official jargon of the International Rugby Board, has become a ‘grown-up’ discipline.
It was already known from these tournaments around the world, some of which have become legendary like those in Hong Kong or more recently Dubai. But this variant of official rugby, the 15-player game, remained a very ‘amateur’ game in Europe, which the Scots invented at the end of the last century to continue practicing rugby in a simplified form beyond the official period that ran from September 1 to April 30, alternating with the cricket season.
Traditions and rules have changed since then, and here we are today with Sevens that has regained all its prestige due to… Olympism. But rugby, the quintessential university sport, has long been played with 7 players in international university competitions, whether it is the World Cup by national teams organized by FISU (International University Sports Federation) or the European Championship by university representative teams organized by EUSA (European University Sport Association).
It is thus quite naturally within this well-established framework of traditions that Passion Ovale, the rugby club of Skema, a business school in the Nice region, whose campus is located in Sophia-Antipolis, wanted to organize this first edition of an international tournament, the French Riviera Seven, with the financial support of a prestigious international firm in its field of activity: Deloitte Consulting Group.
12 teams have been invited for the upcoming weekend of April 10 and 11 in Mandelieu to establish an initial hierarchy among these young rugby players from around the world. And, despite the organizers’ regrets who hoped to do better by inviting some prestigious teams, one can easily say that the absentees will be at fault.
While awaiting the competition, we can already congratulate the Organizing Committee, composed of young students who will thus have been able to expand their management skills by realizing an exciting project.
Renato Ferrari
