(irb.com Friday 13 February 2009)
As the 10th Anniversary IRB Sevens World Series enters the midway stage at the USA Sevens, TV commentator Nigel Starmer-Smith gives seven good reasons for making the trip to San Diego’s PETCO Park this weekend.
1. PETCO Park
This fourth round of the IRB Sevens World Series, the USA Sevens in San Diego, is the only international rugby event ever to be played in a major league baseball stadium – Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres.
This magnificent 46,000-seater, open-air venue was opened in 2004 at a cost of $456.8 million. It is right in the heart of downtown San Diego and a two-day crowd of well over 50,000 is expected to attend over the two days for the thrilling rugby and the excellent Fan Festival that the event is also destined to become well known for.
2. Is this the breakthrough?
For the first time the USA Sevens will be shown throughout the country on terrestrial domestic television with a one-hour ‘Special’ on ABC on the evening of 22nd February.
In a country where rugby still comes a distant second in the popularity stakes to the ‘American’ sports of gridiron, baseball and basketball, this is a very big deal.
The programme will bring rugby to over 110,000,000 households throughout the United States, giving it the kind of coverage that it has never enjoyed before.
3. Beware the Eagles..
The success of Al Caravelli’s USA Sevens team in making the Cup quarter finals in the last two tournaments in George and Wellington, reflects the significant growth in the popularity of the game in America, and the quality of rugby they’re playing.
The former advance can be measured by the increase in the numbers playing the game:
For Men: from 24,996 in 1999 to 47,110 in 2005, to 60,476 in 2008
For Women: from 6,104 in 1999, to 17,278 in 2005, to 20,127 in 2008
The latter advance reflects the amount of work that he and his side are putting in and in captain Chris Wyles they possess one of the Series’ ‘most valuable players’.
4. All bets are off!
Never has an IRB Sevens World Series been more wide open and a tournament outcome less predictable. And small wonder… Last weekend in Wellington for the first time ever not one single team won all three games in the pool rounds on day one and, with England the eventual winners losing to Argentina, USA beating Fiji, Kenya beating South Africa, and Wales beating New Zealand, who can guess what’s in store this time?
It’s all warming up nicely for the most competitive Rugby World Cup Sevens of all time in Dubai in early March, when 16 women’s teams will also be playing for a first ever time and, if you are in San Diego this weekend, you can also see the likes of England, Canada, USA, Japan and China playing in the women’s competition, the final of which will be played at the PETCO Park between men’s matches.
5. Winner out of a hat!
Interestingly, the last five World Series Cup titles have been won by four different countries – and that doesn’t include Fiji the reigning world champions, whose last title was in Adelaide 2007!
What is more, in theory any one of five nations could find themselves leading the overall table standings at the end of this tournament: South Africa, England, New Zealand, Argentina or Fiji
6. New names scoring all the tries
It’s strange to see that no Cup-winning team provides a player amongst the three top try-scorers of the season so far.
Out in front at the moment are Kenya’s Collins Injera and Aussie Luke Morahan each on 14 tries, followed by the USA’s outstanding skipper Chris Wyles on 13.
7. A warm welcome to America
San Diego has welcomed the world of rugby with open arms. The city lies at the southern-most end of the coast of California, almost at the border with Mexico in a region of Mediterranean-style climate.
With a multi-ethnic population of 1.3 million, it is the seventh largest city in the States and the second largest in California behind LA.
Migrating grey whales pass close in to the shore, with miles of great surfing beaches the length of the coastline.
The city is best known as the home of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, with the largest concentration of naval facilities and ships of anywhere in the world, including the giant aircraft carriers USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan. It’s even home to of the Marine Corps, including the Air Station at Miramar where ‘Top Gun’ was filmed!
All the teams are well supported at the PETCO, including Samoa whose American Samoan brothers come out in force.
