Rugby 7s royalty Ben Gollings bringing Chennai Bulls to play in Hong Kong
World Series record points scorer believes sport’s chiefs need to find ‘sweet spot’ to restore shorter format’s charm
Ben Gollings believes world rugby chiefs still need to locate the “sweet spot that will bring the attractiveness back to sevens”, after a controversial overhaul last year shrank their marquee HSBC SVNS Series.
Sevens royalty following a record-breaking playing career, Englishman Gollings is on the frontline of attempts to grow the sport in India, and he will lead the recently formed franchise team Chennai Bulls in this year’s expanded Tradition HKFC 10s.
“We want to provide more opportunities for players to gain exposure to rugby outside India … and the HKFC10s is a great breeding ground,” Gollings said.
The elite sevens circuit has slimmed to eight core teams from the 15 that competed in the 2022-23 season, creating something of a closed shop.
“Getting in the top eight has become a much more cutthroat process,” Gollings said, while acknowledging the revised format had delivered competitive rugby over the season’s opening four tournaments.
“I would love to see it grow back to 12 or 16 sides … it’s missing some flavour that extra teams bring on and off the field; the support they have and their styles of rugby.