Tropical 7s Targets New-Look Event In Early April
Tropical 7s Targets New-Look Event In Early April
The Tropical 7s will return for 2021 after having to cancel last year because of the COVID pandemic.
Like pretty much every rugby event slated for any time after March 15, 2020 being called off, events and teams are slowly stepping back onto the field.
With the Tropical 7s being in Orlando, Fla., in a state that has been less stringent in shutdowns throughout the COVID time. Florida’s pandemic stats put the Sunshine State squarely in the middle of the list of the country’s states.
Still, the Tropical 7s has had to adjust. Tournament Director John Siner has announced that the Tropical 7s will be a week of rugby training, scrimmages, and, most likely, competition.
Teems are welcome in Orlando from Monday, March 29 to Sunday, April 4. If they want to just get on the field and train in their own bubble, they can do that.
Some teams will want to have some scrimmages, while still others—actually many—are looking for real competition. While it’s unlikely more than a couple of teams from outside the USA will attend, there will still be an opportunity for competition.
“We were hoping things would be more advanced by this time,” Siner told Goff Rugby Report. “It’s a bit hit and miss with some areas returning and some not. But what we wanted to do is offer the rugby community something and help everyone take a step toward return-to-play.”
Teams were consistently saying they really wanted the tournament to occur in some way.
“Instead of saying we’re not going to hold a competition, we decided to kind of reverse engineer it and see if we could provide a platform for rugby,” continued Siner. “Do you want to just stay in your bubble and train? We can help with that. Do you want to slowly ramp it up and end with a scrimmage or a tournament? We can accommodate.”
Siner expects to have some sort of U23 and U19 competitive opportunities, but there are no set brackets as yet—it’s all based on what teams need.
“We are going to do what we can,” he said.
This 2021 Tropical 7s Reboot is open for registration now. Several teams have already committed.
