Friday, February 18, 2011

Vegas 7s success in America!


The 2011 Las Vegas 7s was a massive success with a record crowd attendance over the two-day event. The paid attendance for Sunday was 25,032 and 24,877 on Saturday, which puts the total number to well over 50,000 when including the staff that worked the event. This was a 36% increase from last year, making the USA event one of the most popular destinations on the Sevens World Series. The Hong Kong and Wellington tournaments top the list, with the smallest audiences seen at the South African (George) and Australian (Adelaide) legs.

The Las Vegas Invitational (LVI) rugby tournament - which was played from Wednesday to Saturday on the fields outside of Sam Boyd Stadium - hosted over 180 different teams ranging from youth, college, club and international players.

“We did some research, and this was without a doubt the largest rugby tournament in America.” said LVI competition manager Jon Hinkin.

In a change to the usual competition format, the Cup final was played before the Plate, Bowl and Shield finals to tie in with the first live broadcasting of the Sevens World Series on network television across the States, on NBC. This was a major step in creating rugby awareness throughout America – and together with BBC America showing the Six Nations competition – is exciting times in this country.
NFL convert Miles Craigwell – who played on the wing for the USA this weekend – was mentioned on several occasions in the media, which could open the door to plenty more crossover athletes.


The tournament atmosphere was fantastic with thousands of spectators seen in various colorful outfits.

Meanwhile on the field it was South Africa who played brilliant sevens to defeat England 17-10 in a thrilling semi final, following that up with a pulsating 24-14 victory over Fiji in the Cup final. Cecil Africa – who returned from a broken jaw injury - was the player of the tournament for the South Africans. He is the leading point (181) and try scorer (22) so far in this 2010//2011 HSBC Sevens World Series. With this win South Africa gained 24 points and are in fifth place (56) behind leaders England and New Zealand (80), as well as Samoa and Fiji (64). The USA is 11th on 6 points, behind Scotland (8) and Kenya (12). England’s Ben Gollings made history by scoring his 2,500th point on the Series, while Uale Mai played in his 67th tournament for Samoa.

Fiji caused two of the biggest upsets by knocking out last year’s Las Vegas champions Samoa by 17-12. Then in the Cup semi final they defeated the last week’s Wellington Cup winners New Zealand 26-7 in spectacular fashion!

In the other sections, Samoa stormed to the Plate title, defeating Kenya 26-15. Despite the loss the Kenyans were well supported by several thousand wild fans, which bring such a vibrant atmosphere to the Series. To get to the final Kenya knocked out Australia 24-21 on the final play of the game, which of course sent their supporters into a frenzy!
Scotland took down Canada in the Bowl final by 19-14 and received 4 valuable IRB points. They also had a thrilling semi final match, scoring after the hooter sounded, to beat Wales 17-12.

The United States won the Shield title, but there are no IRB points up for grabs in this section of the competition. During pool play the USA lost against eventual winners South Africa (27-5) and Samoa (28-12). Under the stadium lights they bounced back to defeated Japan 24-7 to put them in the Bowl quarterfinals. On Sunday North American neighbors Canada shocked the United States with a 19-15 result, putting them in the Shield section. The home side then beat Uruguay 27-7 in the semi finals and Japan 19-12 in the final.

The next two legs of the HSBC Sevens World Series take place in Hong Kong from March 25-27th and Adelaide (Australia) from 2-3rd April.

For more information on the Sevens World Series visit www.irbsevens.com.

Monday, February 14, 2011

USA Sevens 2011 Fan Videos

Like many stops on the Sevens series, USA Sevens has a great party atmosphere. The fact the event takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada is certainly a big bonus for the revellers. Below are some videos from the event this weekend at Sam Boyd Stadium. Sorry,  we can't provide any photos after-party events...as they say "what happens in Vegas..."













Wednesday, February 9, 2011

adidas adiZero RS7 Pro SG




adidas has released a new rugby-specific boot, the adiZero RS7 Pro SG. Better yet, the adiZero RS7 Pro boot is the first ever lightweight rugby-specific boot. It combines light weight and great stability to offer the fastest and lightest boot around. This boot will be worn in the 2011 Six Nations by Mike Phillips (Wales), Max Evans (Scotland), Sean Lamont (Scotland), Lee Byrne (Wales), Yohann Huget (France), Morgan Parra (France), and Alberto Sgarbi (Italy).



adidas adiZero RS7 Pro SG

adidas adiZero RS7 Pro SG
adidas adiZero RS7 Pro SG


adidas adiZero RS7 Pro SG
adidas adiZero RS7 Pro SG
adidas adiZero RS7 Pro SG
adidas adiZero RS7 Pro SG
adidas adiZero RS7 Pro SG
adidas adiZero RS7 Pro SG

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

A Brief History of Canterbury of NZ


In 1904, deep in the Canterbury province of New Zealand, John Lane, Pringle Walker and Alfred Rudkin started making woollen garments. Before long, they were making uniforms for the army during World War I, and such was their reputation for tough, durable kit (uniforms), the legendary New Zealand All Blacks rugby team asked them to produce a rugby kit to play in. The rest, as they say, is history: Canterbury of New Zealand outfitted the New Zealand All Blacks team for over 75 years and is now the largest dedicated rugby brand in the world, partnering the South African, Australian, Irish and Scottish national teams and a host of leading club sides including English Champions London Wasps.In fact, by the early 1970s Canterbury were sup plying kit to so many teams around the world that it’s factories were left with a problem: what to do with the remnants of fabric that were used to make the many different jerseys of these teams? The solution: stitch them together and market them as practice jerseys. With no two jerseys the same, these practice jerseys became hugely popular with players and fans alike and before long became known as the Ugly jersey. Recently imitated by many, the original Ugly jersey has proved the inspiration for the launch of Canterbury’s Off-Field brand: a premium end menswear fashion brand inspired by New Zealand, rugby and of course the Ugly.







Monday, February 7, 2011

Six Nations Rugby 2011 - France vs. Scotland

World Rugby Shop attended the Six Nations match this past weekend between France and Scotland at Stade de France in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis. The reigning Six Nations champion France won the match 34-21 over a feisty Scotland squad. We've included a few photos we took while at the match below. Special thanks to Olivier Samyn of Stade Francais for hosting us.













Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Youth Conference on the Game

On January 21-23, World Rugby Shop was privileged to sponsor the 2011 Youth Conference on the Game in Carmel, Indiana. The event brings together youth coaches and administrators from around the country to share their experiences, discuss best practices, and provide insight on how together we can all grow the game in the United States.

The Conference Program:


conference program


Founder of Play Rugby USA Mark Griffin discusses technique:





Former USA Rugby player and current USA Rugby Specialist Coach, Luke Gross, instructs coaches on contact:




The date and location of the 2012 conference will be decided later this year.