So I'm back from the Canada 7s in Vancouver, and I have some observations.

First of all, with regard to the games. The tournament itself was exciting, and featured a combination of plucky power rugby, audacious offloads, and startling athleticism. New Zealand won, and was perhaps more polished, while South Africa may have been the most exciting team overall, and Samoa one of the feel-good stories as they seemed to come close to their glory of old. Fiji, the USA, and, of course, Canada, showed some great moments.

Canada - what a great tournament for them. Even though the Canadians were unlucky in going 2-1 but missing out on a top eight spot, they ran the table on Day Two, and won the Bowl, scoring with no time left - John Moonlights somehow getting over and Nathan Hirayama (how was he not on the Dream Team for the tournament?) hitting the conversion. (Put aside for the moment that France could have kicked to touch to win the game - they decided to run and gave up a penalty. C'est la vie.) Here's the video of the moment (if you don't see it, refresh the page):

Well, what does that show you? It shows you a packed house (only the lower decks were for sale, aside from a few select upper deck seats). It shows that the Canada 7s organizaers were not embellishing when they said they'd sold it out. The place was packed. Official announced attendance was 60,418, and while events are known to include players, volunteers, freebies, and media in those numbers, it's still a very believable and supportable number. 

The additional interesting thing about the crowd was how they stayed. The reason they stayed was because they didn't have to. With bars and restaurants and interesting things to see right outside BC Place, fans could go in and out (in-and-out privileges were halted midway through the day). Because most fans were walking to the stadium from hotels in town, or the train station, or parking around the area (and thus not on one massive parking place), they could come in whenever they wanted. There wasn't that feeling that if you don't get there early, you will have to park half a mile away.

And knowing that, and knowing that they could leave for a short time if they wanted to, fans didn't think "oh, I have to stay for five more hours, or I could go back to where my hotel is and get dinner and a drink." It's a weird thing, but knowing you can leave means you're likely to stay.

BC Place is a very nice, modern stadium, and as such is more pleasant to spend time in away from the action. There are places to walk and places to sit. The concessions were also reasonable priced (for a stadium). With so many food options nearby, BC Place maybe can't get away with $10 beers. In fact, beer was about $8.50 Canadian, which is under $7 US. Not cheap, but low enough (and the food was commensurately priced) - all the more reason for the fans to stay, which they did until the end.

Like the Las Vegas 7s the week before, the Canada 7s was played on artificial turf. Most players seem to prefer grass, and you could see how over the two weeks, fewer players took dives to touch the ball down for tries - usually they just pressed the ball to the ground, instead. Goff Rugby Report asked various players what they thought of the turf in BC Place, and their comments were consistent - grass is preferable, but if you're going for turf, BC Place was preferable to Sam Boyd Stadium. In Las Vegas, the ground underneath was harder, and the turf stickier, thus producing more injuries related to being slammed to the ground, and more scrapes on knees, elbows, and shoulders.

The difference was how the turf was put together - there's basically more padding under the BC Place version - and how it was maintained - Canada 7s had a little truck go through periodically to spray water on the field, making it slidier, and thus less scrapy (there are technical terms).

Smartly organized, the Canada 7s has launched itself into the upper echelon of World Series stops. How could it not? No new event has come close to getting 60,000 on the first go-round (it wasn't that long ago that Dubai was bragging about breaking 50,000). The venue is comparable to some of the best (although while I haven't seen Singapore's National Stadium in person, it looks like a luxury spaceship), and the atmosphere and setting are superb.

The organizers also wanted to give a nod to the First Nations people of Canada, on whose land BC Place sits. So Native artists carved the trophies. And, wouldn't you know it, the trophies seemed to go to teams that would have special reverence for them. So New Zealand took the Cup, and presented their Haka. A country with the Maori culture could certainly relate to the First Nations of North America. The Plate went to Samoa, who, similarly, carry great pride about their culture in a way that is remeniscient of the native peoples of North America. And Canada took the Bowl, and it was home.

Photos by Steve Seiller. http://gallery.summit-lights.com/Events/2016-HSBC-Vancouver-Sevens