Antoine Dupont is a winner, no matter how many teammates he plays with. A week after winning the Champions League, the most desired name in world rugby will compete this Sunday at the Metropolitano in the final of the Rugby Sevens World Series, the Olympic modality that has led the architect of French rugby to abandon his XV team. to search for gold in Paris. This is how Madrid welcomed the best rugby player to ever compete in Spain. The tournament that national rugby considers its launching pad to the world’s first line was also the last major event of the sport before the Games.
World Rugby, the international federation of this sport, premiered its finals format in Madrid, similar to a tennis masters, after a calendar with events in Dubai, Cape Town, Perth, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Singapore. After the group stage and the quarter-finals were played on Friday and Saturday, Sunday served as a big event, with four closely fought semi-finals – all of which were decided by one score – and the happy news for Spanish rugby, which At home he was arguing about remaining among the 12 best teams in the world and he achieved it in both boys and girls.
Two seven-minute halves and seven players per team ensure a dynamic and chaotic game that leads to an uncertainty that the majority format with 15 players often lacks. There are also beatings, but the punishment lasts 14 minutes instead of 80 and then there is another game. “We don’t always have the same teams winning,” summarizes the director of the event, Paula Hernández, who looks to the new generations. “Our potential market is the under-35 world (they represented 40% of the attendees). People can’t sit for that long, XV rugby matches are quite long. “We are looking at models like the NBA, which provide dynamism, to create an attractive product for everyone.”
Compared to the static spectator of rugby search for the shadow. “For us it is more than sport, it is an experience for everyone,” Hernández emphasizes after a few days with musical activities – a stage inside the stadium – or a fan zone outside the venue that hosted a beach rugby competition.
Hernández argues that sevens “is growing a lot around the world” thanks to being the Olympic modality. Fiji, one step below the greats in the XV, wields gold medals thanks to a format that fits its physical rugby, with overflowing talent and still lacking the structure that the XV demands. Spain has more than 35,000 registered players and more than 300 clubs. Madrid will also organize the next two editions. “It can create a legacy for rugby in general, which is what we are looking for at World Rugby. Maybe in a few years we can see the result.”
Between 35 and 40% of those attending the World Series final were foreigners. “We are very happy; the city is too.” Tourists from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, France or Argentina, the loudest fans, proud of their first place in the regular season in the men’s team before being surpassed by the French defense in the final (19-5). Australia did beat the French team in the women’s team thanks to Maddison Levi’s hat trick (26-7).
But the spotlight went to Dupont, a substitute in the final before generating the decisive try. “It has been a very important attraction. “It has mobilized a large audience in France, we are very grateful.” The prices – from eight euros – have sought more to spread the sport in Spain than to raise revenue. The Metropolitano exceeded 20,000 spectators on Saturday and Sunday in a form with 12 hours of competition in which there are no full stadiums. Friday served as an invitation to schools, the breadbasket to which Spanish rugby aspires in the future.
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