By Lucky Vince Pienaar
- Harry Jones calls sevens rugby a casual training game, but sevens rugby is serious and deserves respect.
- The HSBC Sevens 2025 starts in Dubai this weekend; Jones should watch to see how skilled and competitive it really is.
There are commentators who clearly know a lot about rugby 15s who, for some reason, look down on sevens.
As an example, the highly informative rugby blog, The Lekker Rugby Pod, presented by MW Welman with expert Harry Jones is well worth watching – except when it comes to sevens.
“Sevens is a training skill,” Jones declares.
“That’s the stuff you do when you’re trying to not get hurt and you want to run around in your takkies.”
Earlier in the programme, speaking about Jérôme Daret getting Coach of the Year ahead of Rassie Erasmus, he says that “unless you have a rock for a brain, or someone sucked out your brains and put them into a jar, you will know that Rassie is the best coach in the world”.
Agreed. Rassie was the best coach of the year by far and has been so for several years. It leads to the unfortunate conclusion that World Rugby is still crying about the 2021 debacle when Rassie, by his own admission, went too far with his video about referee Nic Berry during the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa.
It’s hard to argue that Rassie should not have been awarded Coach of the Year. It’s difficult to believe that there isn’t any underlying punishment being handed out to the man who may one day be considered the best coach in the history of the game.
It is almost insulting that it went to sevens coach Daret – especially seeing that France’s brilliant year was mostly about Antoine Dupont.
But there is an obvious paraphrase for Harry Jones.
“Unless you have a rock for a brain, or someone sucked out your brains and put them into a jar,” you will know that sevens is not a training skill that you practise wearing takkies when you don’t want to get hurt.
Is it okay for Jones to speak with such authority about rugby if he has that attitude about sevens? You can safely assume that he was not glued to his TV screen watching the sevens at the Olympic Games in Paris.
He would not have shaken his head in admiration as he watched Antoine Dupont perform miracles to help France win Olympic gold. Hey! Has he ever even watched a game of sevens?
And yet, Jones talks with great insight when he talks about 15s. He is just one of many so-called experts who have this ignorant view of sevens.
This weekend sees HSBC Sevens 2025 kick off with the tournament in Dubai. Once again, Blitzbok fans will be hoping for South African success.
Jones should watch a few games. He might even notice that the players wear “real” rugby boots.
Pictured above: Rassie Erasmus.
Source: Springboks/X
