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4th World University Rugby Sevens Championship

Porto, Portugal - July 21st-24th, 2010

The fourth edition of the World University Rugby 7 Championships were organized very professionally, starting well before the tournament began.

Rugby 7, now a firm asset in our programme, was held in Portugal this time, specifically in the city of Porto. The Portuguese Federation of University Sports (FADU) always tackles the organization with a professionalism that makes us proud. Just surf on the site devoted to the event at (http://www.rugby2010.up.pt) to get a feeling of the commitment of the local organizing committee.

There is no doubt that our Portuguese friends, working in collaboration with the University of Porto and the municipal authorities, did not do things by halves. The venue chosen for the competition is a perfect example. The place was Bessa stadium, the best to be had, both for the athletes and for the public that can watch the game even more closely thanks to the sharply inclined bleachers. This is a real asset knowing that rugby 7 is a very spectacular sport. It is much faster than the game played by a team of 15, which is why the matches are shorter. Spectators can attend a whole series of very different games in a single day, combining men's and women's matches. The sport is quite popular with the ladies – there were 10 teams in Porto, which shows that despite its rough side, the sport is not reserved to men. From a tactical standpoint it is also interesting to watch the women, who play quite a different game from the men.

With ten women's teams and fourteen men's, there is no doubt that the tournament was a success for participation, despite a few last minute cancellations that really undermined the organizers' nerves. Fortunately the tournament did not suffer from these complications and the organizing committee must be congratulated on the work it did with a full commitment beginning well before the competitions. This professionalism paid off, since it was generally agreed that this fourth edition was very simply one of the best.

For the ladies, we noted the participation of Guam, which is a first for this very young association whose team had to travel nearly 30 hours. For the men, some smaller countries like Belgium or Lebanon took part. These are countries that usually cannot be expected to send an entire team, but their participation shows that rugby 7 is much more affordable, unlike the game with teams of 15.

After a parade through Porto to celebrate the official opening of the championships, the teams were ready for action.

85 matches were played in a atmosphere of true sportsmanship and it can be said that the technical level of the teams was good, at least for the best of them. The umpires were really flawless and international standards were fully respected.

The host country had the honour to take the World University Champion title in the men's category and Spain did the same in the women's. Too bad for the strong Russian team that played consistently well throughout the tournament, but that missed the gold medal in both categories. Silver went to Italy for the ladies and Japan for the men. Third place was for Ukraine and Morocco respectively.

In any case, the winners certainly reflect the strength of the teams present and we are pleased to see a continual improvement in the level of the players from one edition to the next.

Rendez-vous in 2012 in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France for the 5^th edition of the World University Rubgy 7 Championships.