48 minute long 7's game to be trialled

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/may/29/super-sevens-philadelphia-us-rugby-professional-league

Apparently there's a 12 team professional US/Canadian circuit starting in a year or so. One option is longer versions of 7's. 48 minutes with rolling subs (every dead ball, ie. scrum, lineout, penalty). 20 player squads, 4 quarters with 3 minute breaks at 1?4 and 3/4 time and 6 minute breaks at 1/2 time.

My thoughts. Interesting idea. Probably to long for a sevens game. Even if it works it'll probably need a bigger squad. Your thoughts?

Why dont they do 9 player mini rugby? Sounds a bit odd tbh

 

If it aint broke............our friends in the "special relationship" will fix it anyway.

There's already been a few games played. It's in four quarters. Typical Americans.

Widen the goalposts too, OOH-RAH!

Is there a guy now who only takes the kicks on each team and Will all coversions be straight infront of the posts now?

With sevens in the Olympics the Americans need to identify a wider base of talent to pick from. The Yanks also realise that they can't get the crowds in for a 14 minute game, and they need to sell a full 1 hour of tv with ad breaks - hence the 12 +3 +12 +6 +12 +3 +12 format.

They would be far better playing mini tournaments with 4 teams. The crowds would be drawn from a wider base and should therefore be bigger. They could shorten the games to 6 minutes a half to fit the schedules and still allow some recovery time.