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‘Rugby has arrived in the United States’: PR7s’ record-breaking event

Lucas Lacamp #12 of the United States runs with the ball for a try during the Premier Rugby Sevens All-Star Tournament between the U.S. National Team and the PR7s’ All-Stars at Providence Park on November 17, 2024 in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Soobum Im/Getty Images)

Premier Rugby Sevens (PR7s) has rewritten history, set new benchmarks, and helped raise the sport’s standing in North America by welcoming a record-breaking crowd to Portland’s Providence Park last month for the 2024 PR7s All-Star Tournament.

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As rain poured down from the heavens, supporters packed the stands in their thousands to watch six professional matches, which saw the USA and Canadian Women’s sides take the field. America’s Men’s team also took part in the highly entertaining event.

With the USA and Canada Women’s sides both medalling at the Paris Games, this tournament on November 17 was an opportunity for fans to watch some of their Olympic heroes in action before the HSBC SVNS Series got underway in Dubai from November 30.

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The All-Star Tournament proved to be a record-breaking success both on and off the field, with PR7s reporting multiple successes on Wednesday. PR7s has listed 13 highlights in a press release that covers areas including commercial, broadcast, digital, social, and rugby.

Catch up on the action from the HSBC SVNS Series on RugbyPass TV, which you can sign up for HERE.

With RugbyPass TV streaming the event internationally and FS2 airing it in the U.S., more than 1.5 million unique accounts were reached on November 17. There were also more than 95,000 views on YouTube and 2.2 million organic views of content on Instagram.

This was the largest live audience in PR7s history with nearly 5,000 fans attending the event, which saw ticket sales surpass the previous record by 39 per cent. PR7s managed to reach these heights despite the one-sale less than one month before the tournament.

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“The success of the PR7s All-Star Tournament shows that rugby has arrived in the United States,” CEO of Premier Rugby Sevens, Owen Scannell, said in a statement.

“The record-breaking attendance and global broadcast reach are clear signals that this summer has changed the game for the sport.

“Smashing records on a cold and rainy day with a super engaged crowd that turned up with less than a month’s notice shows the excitement for rugby’s moment is here to stay and we are proud to be part of making it happen.”

As for the rugby, there were 25 Olympians on show including 19 men and women who competed at this year’s Paris Games. There were three Olympic medallists on the USA team and four Olympic runners-up on the Canadian team.

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Bronze medallists Sammy Sullivan also participated as a coach, and Alex ‘Spiff’ Sedrick – who scored the match-winning try and conversion in the Olympic bronze medal playoff against Australia – was also involved as a broadcaster.

Peter Sio Jr, Autumn LoCicero, Autumn Czaplicki and Alyssa Porter all made their national team debuts. Porter has gone on to impress on the HSBC SVNS Series, which included a try in the comeback win over Australia at last weekend’s stop in Cape Town, South Africa.

“This tournament was invaluable for our team, especially as we integrate young and emerging players,” USA Women’s national team coach, Emilie Bydwell, explained.

“Events like these provide critical opportunities for athletes to battle-test themselves against top-tier competition while preparing for what lies ahead.

“Our partnership with PR7s allows players to showcase their abilities in a big-time environment where the lights are bright.”

The PR7s All-Star Tournament also included a few amateur matches to showcase regional and collegiate talent, including the Oregon Rugby Sport Union and the University of Oregon. 15 local rugby clubs were involved in the event.

There was also a youth game between the Pacific Northwest Loggers and TOA Idaho which highlights the emerging generation in American rugby.

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J
JW 13 minutes ago
'Matches between Les Bleus and the All Blacks are rarely for the faint-hearted.'

Well a) poor French results doesn’t seem to effect the situation much. In fact one of the reasons given for this selection policy is that the French don’t tune in for foreign rugby content on the other side of the world, at a time when theyre not having their vino. So who would know the results? And b) this is the crux of the matter, they are legally abided to play them as part of WRs tier 1 reciprocal tours programme. The only real choice for the SH team is to treat it the same, which is fine when teams are happy to do that, but the AB’s have a totally anthesis policy/mentality so would never use the games in the same way.


So alligned with b) the only real option is to complain to those in control. I suspect that’s why weve seen France reneging on the practice, and you can only be left to think that if they hadn’t reneged, WR would have done something more drastic about it. Which of course would mean not just telling them to bugger off when they want to tour, it’s no one playing them (from t1 at least) at all (assuming they have no interest in scheduling match’s outside the windows, like Ireland and NZ are doing).


Then of course that means no involvement of France in the Nations Championship. Which means they are automatically the last ranked team in 6N to qualify, so the actual worst team in 6N gets to compete in it, making a mockery of the promotion and relegation WR wanted to happen between T1 and T2 for qualifying purposes. Yup, b) is just something nobody wants to happen. Well done FFR and LNR for making the tour work instead (how well is yet to be seen).

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T
Tom 1 hour ago
No definites, but which Wales players could still make Lions squad?

Williams, Faletau, Lake, Morgan are the only ones who have a chance. None of them are guaranteed but I'd imagine they'll pick Williams and Morgan who could get in on merit and will likely be favoured for inclusivity.


Williams is fighting it out with Ben White for 3rd slot behind JGP and Mitchell.

Morgan is up against JVDF, Earl, Curry, Curry, Willis for 4 flanker slots. Morgan is a fantastic player but a huge call to leave any of those boys at home given how much Wales struggled at the breakdown against England. He's by no means solely responsible for that but it will be fresh in the minds of the selectors. Given the amount of hybrid players emerging and the inclination for a 6-2 split, they may be able to find room for a 5th flanker in the squad. In which case may be Ben Curry who misses out or Willis might be excluded given we have such depth in the players who have chosen to play for clubs this side of the channel.


Lake and Faletau are good enough but I'd be surprised if Faletau gets picked over Conan and Lake would be up against Cowan-Dickie which I can't see happening. Blair Murray is probably 4th in the 15 pecking order behind Kinghorn, Heenan, Marcus Smith. He may be a better 15 than Smith but Smith brings versatility so would be ahead of him. Since Smith may go on tour as a 10/15 hybrid, they would already have 3 fullbacks in the squad so Murray won't make it, good player though.


Nicky Smith and Dafydd Jenkins clutching at straws.

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