Dubai: Just about every aspect of the eight-tournament World Sevens Series, which traditionally kicks off in Dubai is now up for debate, according to Steve Griffiths of the IRB.
The three-year agreements currently in place for the popular event run out at the end of this season. And nothing is being ruled in or out as officials map out the future of the short-form of the game within the wider context of the entire sport.
Griffiths, the IRB's Operations Manager Strategy, said independent consultants are now undertaking a complete review of sevens rugby with the aim of developing a strategic plan which will be considered by the IRB's executive committee in January.
"They're talking to tournament hosts, core teams, non core teams, unions that don't have teams in the sevens, sponsors, broadcasters and media outlets," he said.
"We have four core elements to our development programme development, profile, high performance and commercial viability and we need to ensure that we balance everything."
The number of tournaments will clearly be an important part of the next three-year agreement. "Will we stay at eight? It's certainly something we're looking at," said Griffiths.
"For a while we had 10 and for the core teams that was too many. For development I would say that eight is about right."
The location of those tournaments is also being discussed in detail with the viability of returning to South America and the IRB's satellite tournament structure providing 'feeder' events for smaller rugby-playing nations to make their mark before stepping up a level also close to the top of the agenda.
No in-depth discussions about the future of sevens can proceed without an in-depth look at how rugby earlier this year failed to gain admittance to the Olympics and what needs to be done to make that happen in the future.
"That was a significant disappointment but it's still a goal," said Griffiths.
TRACY BRAND/Gulf News
Moving forward
Tunisia beat Uganda 24-0 in Dubai yesterday. The world body is now exploring ways to improve the sport.
