True to its nature, rugby is about to hit North America hard and fast.
On Monday, the North American Super 7s Rugby League announced its official launch. The name is self-explanatory: An official rugby sevens league is coming to the United States and Canada.
When North American Super 7s begins play in July 2018 -- just after the Rugby Sevens World Cup in San Francisco -- its six men's and six women's teams won't be based in specific cities. Instead, the 12 teams will go on a tour to six North American cities, which will be announced in the next few months. Then starting in spring 2019, the league plans on operating with teams established in their owns cities.
During the next year, the league plans an extensive evaluation process and will hold a draft to formulate the 2018 Pro Tour teams. Player are expected to come mostly from college and club programs in the U.S. and Canada.
The league is calling its sport "Super 7s," as opposed to "rugby sevens," due to certain adjustments being made for the benefit of the fans. While most rugby sevens settings feature 14-minute "tournament-style" games, the North American league will include four 15-minute quarters. This is to set the stage for a future city-based format that will encourage fans to come out for a full single match. Rosters will include between 16-21 players and free substitution will be allowed. Super 7s will feature no ties, but instead, a two-on-one skills competition called "The Gauntlet" will be used as a tiebreaker. It's pretty much a tackling drill used to settle an even game.
Super 7s will be run by United World Sports, which also organizes two current high-level rugby events in the U.S.: HSBC World Sevens in Las Vegas and the Penn Mutual Collegeiate Rugby Championship. United World Sports CEO Jon Prusmack has already spent roughly $20 million of his own money on growing rugby. Former pro rugby player David Niu, who founded the American National Rugby League in 1998, and who previously served as President, AFL (Arena Football League) Global, China Arena Football League, will serve as president of Super 7s. Niu was with the AMNRL, America's first domestic rugby league, from 1998-2010. The league folded in 2014. At AFL Global, which was born in 2012, he saw through the initiation of the China Arena Football League in 2016, and that league will return for a second season this fall. Niu is a native of Australia.
At last summer's Olympics in Rio, which saw rugby return to the Games for the first time since 1924, the United States finished in ninth place on the men's side and fifth place in the women's tournament. Canada was not in the men's field, but its women's team won a bronze medal. The 2016 Olympic format was standard rugby sevens.
Some potential Super 7s players will be in action this weekend at the Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship in Philadelphia.
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