Building a narrative: Barney Pascall reflects on Ultimate Sevens’ debut

This weekend, rugby’s newest competition Ultimate Sevens gets back underway in Biarritz, with the second round of action hitting the European mainland after it burst out of the blocks in Cardiff.

But for Ultimate Sevens Managing Director Barney Pascall, it was the culmination of nearly 18 months of hard work to get the competition off the ground.

With the reception of Cardiff from fans, players, officials and more almost universally positive, Pascall knows the competition is on the right track – and is primed for an even bigger follow up weekend in the southern French city.

“Cardiff was an incredible experience,” Pascall reflected in an interview with RugbyPass.

“I hate to use the cliche, but [it was] 18 months of blood, sweat and tears, but more just genuine belief in what we could deliver came to life. The thing that struck me the most is that the delivery of the event, all parties not just played their role, but they excelled.

“That’s what came out of the crowd, the player feedback, the coach feedback, the referee feedback, all manner of stakeholders. These guys absolutely gave it all guns blazing, which meant that the quality of the product was there.

“I felt like the format worked. It kept people interested. I’m sure there’s things that we can tweak and we can improve on… but I was just proud and chuffed to pieces that we were able to deliver against the expectations we’d set ourselves.”

Cardiff came with many experiments, from new teams to changes in the rules and structure of previous sevens competition, with teams having to play ten minutes with no halftime break and find new ways to manage and strategise under the new format.

This weekend, with a week of action under the belt the chasing sides will now have an opportunity to bounce back, and better utilise the rules in front of them, from managing the knockout format to decisions around conversions, which carry much more value depending on level of difficulty.

“It’s going to be fascinating, how the tactics moved even over the course of Cardiff,” Pascall added.

Going into this weekend with the coaches, [they’ve been] turning around to me and changing the way we eat on game day, the way we drink, the way we hydrate, because it’s so intense during that four hours and very different because usually you play a game.

“That level of detail coaches were already thinking about in Cardiff, I think the dynamic kick options is going to come down to who’s going to prefer to step up.

“These coaches are amazing. They’re so into it. There is a lot of dedicated thought going into how we optimise it.”

While Cardiff gave Pascall and his team plenty of food for thought, what was encouraging was how well the format was received.

When the competition was announced, it came at a time where the sevens offseason became increasingly regarded as dead space that was ripe for new competitions.

Such competitions, such as the Rugby Premier League in India or the Taiyo Seimei Sevens in Japan have seen an influx of international talent. But for Pascall, with sevens having such an established footprint, the opportunity is ripe to tinker with the rugby formula and find new ways to engage new fans, while allowing the stars themselves to shine on their own terms.

“This is a financial investment in the game of rugby sevens, with the idea being that we can support both the professional players that exist around the world,” Pascall said.

“It’s amazing that many unions still have sevens as a professional pathway and indeed elite level performance aspect of rugby union.

“Thinking long-term, that’s a part and a role that we want to play. I think there’s that element to it. There’s also a narrative piece.

“The World Series is well-established in existing IP where people recognise it. It also happens over a long period of time in respect to the year, starting at the end of November, finishing at the beginning of June.

“There’s a period there where there’s dead space. There’s opportunity. it’s a natural fit with the calendar to bring a competition like this in, giving athletes the opportunity to really keep sharpening their pencil.

“Sevens statistically is a mechanism to bring new fans to the game of rugby. We need to give a narrative in the period of the year where there isn’t the World Series. This helps add to that, as will the Rugby Premier League in India.

“These sorts of competitions can help add narrative, build personalities, build a platform and just keep the engine going all year round, which then can continue to be a mechanism and a vehicle for new fans, new players entering the sport.”

What Pascall is especially excited to see this weekend is the blossoming combinations between the respective squads, with international stars combining together brilliantly both on and off the park.

With two weeks left to go, the chances to see these play even more is set to be one of the most exciting aspects of this first season – and a key goal to look ahead as the competition looks to expand in the future.

“I went upstairs in Cardiff to this old clubhouse in an old stadium and I walk into the players having dinner,” Pascall said.

“I’ve got Fijians, Australians, Scottish, Canadians dancing. [They’re] doing stuff in their teams that inevitably on the World Series probably isn’t happening as much because they are playing for their countries.

“That kind of authentic, just human beings getting to know each other, building relationships is a massive part of life. Understanding good life principles and good life philosophies about being resilient and building relationships and understanding new cultures.

“That’s a huge part of it and I think it played out on the field.

“Credit belongs to the players for buying into this concept and embracing this multicultural melting pot. The coaching staff and the way they’ve gone about it, I cannot tip my cap more to the way that they’ve approached that. They’ve built a culture very, very quickly.

“The bit that we’re trying to really tease out, the behind the scenes stuff.

“We’ve got to continue with that narrative, we’ve got to continue with all the content and all the stories off the back of that and work together. That’s when it becomes truly successful.

“It’s the same players, right? It’s a bit like cricket and the way you follow individuals and which team they’re playing for in the Big Bash [League] versus the IPL [Indian Premier League] versus The Hundred.

“I think that’s what we’ve got to learn from and what we’ve got to keep doing and will help us measure success.”