After Paris, what next?

After Paris, what next?

After the most phenomenal three days of action, amid world record breaking crowds and outstanding performances, how does women’s rugby build on its golden moment?

With over 260,000 people packing the Stade De France over the three days of competition, sevens at the Olympics has unquestionably delivered a huge profile boost for the game.

On the field, there were standout performances everywhere, with Maddison Levi cementing her place as one of the finest in the world - despite Australia’s disappointing finish - and off it, Ilona Maher continues to take the game by storm.

The American superstar, who too was a powerful performer on the park, is reminding rugby that it can be a sport where individuals can transcend a team without impacting the harmony of a squad.

The joy of Maher’s popularity – now the most followed rugby player male or female in the world online – is that her teammates clearly delight in her success, knowing of course that they benefit from it too, and respecting a player who is widely liked by all who really know her.

The biggest question being asked now in rugby is how the game capitalises on all of this, but attempting to translate an intense burst of support into something more sustainable is fraught with challenge.

The women’s game has continued to grow its fanbase in recent years, with the Red Roses in the 15s game at the apex of that, while it’s easy to forget that women’s sevens was also hugely popular in Rio and in Tokyo, with Ruby Tui emerging as the star four years ago.

A revamped sevens circuit has emerged in the interim, but the format and structure is clearly not right, with the game massively reliant on World Rugby’s purse, and even at the highest level, remains often watched by sparse numbers via online streams and in stadiums.

Despite the pace and skill level at which it is played, it is not the most straightforward product to market – with, in practice, only international teams to follow and no franchises or clubs to build a fanbase around.

So in a sport where then you can only truly follow your national team, even while admiring others, this version of the game is arguably more reliant on superstars than any other form of rugby, a game which has so often been reluctant to embrace the idea of standout megastars.

Perhaps it was always going to take an American athlete to show it the way and rugby needs to lean in harder than ever to celebrating our Levis, our Mahers, our Ciofanis and our Blydes and elevate them for what they are  - globetrotters of a sport which is desperate to reach new audiences.

Building on success

There are other things that the game’s administrators can do to capitalise on the sport’s current profile.

First to Australia, where the lure of the NRLW (where Portia Woodman is widely rumoured to be heading post retirement) might be a threat to hanging on exclusively to players like Maddison and Tegan Levi. Australia's sevens players are well funded, but there are plenty of players who might consider that format a useful top-up.

But losing players now to other formats surely cannot happen, and Jo Yapp must also now demand that the ARU grants her access to some of those players who look primed to be outstanding prospects at the World Cup next year.

Maddison Levi, an athlete of incredible ability, looks like she could play anywhere in any format. Charlotte Caslick has never played for the Wallaroos and hasn’t even played the 15s game since she was 18, but she too could be an incredible addition.

There are varying views on the strategy of moving players between the formats, but Australia have access to unbelievable athletic talent, and as hosts of the next World Cup, might well see 2025 as a chance to lodge the Wallaroos more deeply into the consciousness of their sports-mad public.

New Zealand, where several players may now retire, have also been looking to the future, handing young talent Jorga Miller the longest ever sevens contract recently, clearly understanding that hanging onto their best talent is key to sustained success.

New Zealand are now back-to-back Olympic champions and the current World Cup XV holders.

Having swapped several sevens players for 15s a few years ago, it will be fascinating if they do so again in England, where despite being the defending champions they may not travel as favourites.

There are other interesting plotlines ahead too.

What role will a resurgent China play on the World Series next year.

What happens next for an underfunded Great Britain team?

And whither Fiji? who have gone from the brilliant to the outright poor in a couple of seasons, finishing bottom in Paris and ending with defeat at the hands of South Africa, a team they had never lost to before.

Canada were, in truth, shock silver medallists, but fuelled by self-belief, a never say die attitude and a ferocious defence, they were a reminder that you cannot write anyone off in sevens.

Their challenge, like USA’s, remains financial, and the fact their head coach Jack Hanratty is leaving to join a university programme points to this,

America though have made a serious dent in that issue for themselves this week.

USA the real winners

Michelle Kang’s extraordinary $4 million donation to help the US team prepare for LA in four years is potentially game changing for a programme that has long struggled for investment.

With a bronze medal in the bank, and everyone from Michelle Obama to Jason Kelce in their corner, what happens next for Maher’s team is crucial.

So though New Zealand took home the gold medal, really it’s the USA who were the biggest winners this week.

Perhaps then the question the game is asking itself about how to capitalise on the overall popularity of the Olympics is wrong and rather it might be worth asking how the USA itself can help the overall sport.

For years, rugby has talked of the US market as a ‘sleeping giant’ but the inference has always been that the sport has been waiting for the men’s game to take off. It is the women who now have a chance to seize the moment.

Coached by the only female coach at the event (Emilie Bydwell is in fact the only woman to have coached any side to a medal since sevens was reintroduced to the Olympics) , with the world’s most high-profile player in their team, a medal in their back pocket and a huge investment boost – this past week could hardly have gone better.

Investing that money wisely will be absolutely key, as will weighing up how to use LA to continue to drive rugby’s profile in the USA – the current stadium slated to host the rugby at the next games holds less than half the Stade de France.

The temptation may well be to invest the money in the players themselves, but surely far better would be to take a strategic approach to investing in the pathways that rugby in the USA is so often lacking.

The women’s game is arguably much better poised overall than the men’s, in its early rise through professionalism, to chart a different course in the sport, to lure a different fanbase and to showcase a different product – this USA team might just show us how.

And what next for Maher herself? She now has profile no woman has ever had in the sport – it is vital she continues to play in high profile settings at every opportunity, both to continue her outstanding ability and to benefit the game.

A smart English or French team should surely be pulling out all the stops to get her into their leagues next season, where her presence alone would draw huge interest.

The future of the World Series

There are also some considerations to this week for World Rugby to ponder.

The World Series in its current format and structure does not work.  This is not just because it is difficult to market and difficult to broadcast, but also because it is eye wateringly expensive and the game’s governing body can surely not sustain its losses on it.

The existence of a season long series also means that unions are investing relatively high levels of investment for players and a team who play arguably too irregularly and in a format which generates almost no local revenue for them.

There are several alternatives. As we saw this week, a 12-team competition helped to retain interest and excitement in the stadium all day and helped fans, many new to sevens, feel connected to all the sides on the show.

An IPL style franchising of sevens may feel impossible for rugby sevens, but a smaller number of top tier ‘golden’ events with a smaller pool of teams is worth exploring with the most significant larger events the year before the Olympics, while at the same time encouraging the top nations to build out a domestic franchise offer, giving them a chance to generate some income and build a fanbase.

It’s also worth noting from Paris that though a day at the sevens is often deeply associated with partying and alcohol, there was no alcohol at all sold at the Stade de France, and personally I felt the experience was far better for it, with all the focus on the field of play.

Perhaps most importantly though, the Olympics hasn’t just reminded us is that our sport needs megastars and more investment, but also that rugby, when played at the highest level is a special sport combining raw pace, power, skill and gut, and that in this shorter format, it delivers far more of its personality.

We must do everything we can to grow it.