On the occasion of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, athletes introduce us to a move or the rules of an Olympic discipline. In this episode, Guy Accoceberry, former French international, explains what differentiates rugby 7s from rugby 15s.
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Reading time: 2 min
“Rugby 7s is played by 7 players on the same pitch as rugby 15s. Which gives, just like with 15s, moments of conquest, describes Guy Accoceberry, former French international and rugby consultant for franceinfo. These are phases to have the ball and get it out quickly.”
“Unlike rugby 15, where there can be some strategic play, ball carries, dominating scrums, this is not the case at all. Afterwards, offensively, the principle is to keep the ball, to quickly release it on the tackle zones. The ball has to come out quickly.”
For Guy Accoceberry, “7 players on 100 metres, that means there is a lot of space. You have to try to play 2 against 1 and 3 against 2, and therefore shift a player to be able to score tries, or even use kicking too, which is done a lot. Automatically, that creates a defensive system that must be well operational. In general, there are six players on the width of the pitch who define their little square metre to defend and a seventh player who is there as a sort of liberal to be able to recover the kicking game.”
