The O2 arena played host to Rugby’s first ever professional 5-a-side tournament on Tuesday as Argentina were crowned champions of Rugby X, beating Ireland in the final. In the women’s competition England beat USA in the one-on-one format in the final.
The revolutionary Rugby X kicked-off with England playing host to a Barbarians side that included Harlequins and England superstar Danny Care and was captained by Fijian Olympic gold medal winner Osea Kolinisau.
The hosts featured a number of young players as experienced stars Tom Mitchell and Dan Bibby were both unavailable due to injury. The game was a cracking spectacle throughout, ending 30 – 30 at full time which took the sides to “one-on-one” showdown which pits one defender on the 5m line and one attacker 30m out and allows the attacker 10 seconds to score. In this instance the “BaaBaas” went on to 3 – 2. Unfortunately for the hosts it was not to be their day as they went on to lose all three of their games 30 – 10 to Ireland and then 55 – 15 to Argentina.
The competition overall was split into two male groups and one female group. In group A new Rugby 7’s world series regulars Ireland were pitted alongside England and the Barbarians whilst in Group B the United States, France and Argentina battled it out.
On the ladies’ side of the draw Ireland, England, France and the USA were pitted against each other. The hosts played incredibly well and beat the USA 3 – 2 in a sudden death one-on-one following a full-time score of 20 – 20.
For the men, Ireland and Argentina did battle in the final with the South Americans coming out on top by a score of 25 – 15 in what was a great display that will give them immense confidence heading into the fast approaching HSBC 7s World Series.
As whole the format is certainly in its infancy and will have a number of kinks to iron out should it hope to become a regular competition most notably being played on a Tuesday, it was an incredible spectacle. Seeing superstars of the 7s game such as Carlin Isles, Perry Baker, Jordan Conroy and Osea Kolinisau pitted against each other in a full-on battle on a small pitch and having to use every inch of their ability to out manoeuvre one another was incredible.
With the HSBC 7’s World Series kicking off for the men in Dubai in December and the women having already completed their first tournament in Glendale Arizona. The question will be if coaches, players and unions will be willing to expose their players to further physical contests with the World series already including ten stops around the world.
What is clear however is that the 5-a-side format is breathlessly exciting and keeps you on the each of your seat as the traditionally slower set pieces, conversions and penalties are removed and with rolling substitutions allowing for fresh legs the games are fast and furious and have an almost NBA feel to them.
