Sevens at the top level is an art form, a brilliant spectacle which attracts fans around the world in their tens of thousands, all eager to witness the exceptional athleticism and skill of the abbreviated form’s specialists or see a potential star of the future learning his craft.

Many a player has come through the Sevens game and go on to impress in the 15-a-side game with Christian Cullen, Jonah Lomu and Joe Rokocoko just three of talents that New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens’ has unearthed in more than a decade in his job.

The development aspect was never more evident than at the recent IRB Rugby World Cup in France where some 25 percent of players had previously appeared in the IRB Sevens World Series over the last eight seasons.

This statistic, though, doesn’t include the likes of Lawrence Dallaglio and Mils Muliaina, who only played in the Rugby World Cup Sevens – winning it with England (1993) and New Zealand (2001) – and not on the IRB Sevens circuit.

And actually, as renowned commentator Nigel Starmer-Smith pointed out last week, if you were to discount the front five players who on the whole aren’t particularly suited to the pace and skills of Sevens, then the percentage would equate to almost half.

Argentina and Portugal lead the way

Six of the teams participating at RWC 2007 actually had an IRB Sevens graduate as their captain in Agustín Pichot (Argentina), Morgan Williams (Canada), Vasco Uva (Portugal), Semo Sititi (Samoa), Gareth Thomas (Wales) and Mike Hercus (USA).

At one stage or another over the course of the tournament, four others – Jean-Baptiste Elissalde (France), Irakli Abuseridze (Georgia), Felipe Contepomi (Argentina) and Corne Powell (Namibia) – also took on the responsibility of the captaincy.

Pichot and IRB Player of the Year nominee Contepomi were just two of a remarkable 16 players in Argentina’s 30-man squad that captivated the imaginations of the rugby world with their run to the semi-finals to have come through the IRB Sevens World Series.

Among the others were full back Ignacio Corleto, brothers Juan Martín and Carlos Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, centre Manuel Contepomi and fly half Juan Martín Hernández – another of the players short listed for the IRB Player of the Year award.

Returning to the Sevens fold 

This was a figure that only newcomers Portugal could match – although Georgia boasted 15 players – with Uva joined by Pedro Carvalho and Gonçalo Malheiro, who scored their first ever World Cup try against Scotland and kicked the first drop goal of the tournament against New Zealand.

Fiji’s prowess at Sevens is well known and Sireli Bobo’s call up as an injury replacement swelled the 2005/06 IRB Sevens World Series champions’ contingent to 11 – one more than their fellow Pacific islanders Samoa and Scotland.

Lolo Lui was one of those 10 and is the only member of that contingent to have been named in new Samoa Sevens coach Rudi Moors’ first squad for the 2007/08 IRB Sevens World Series’ opening tournaments in Dubai and George.

Japan and USA both had eight players, including Koji Taira who scored an injury-time try to help his side snatch a 12-12 draw with Canada and end a 13-match World Cup losing streak. The Eagles, though, could boast Thretton Palamo, who became the youngest player in World Cup history with his appearance off the bench against South Africa at 19 years, eight days.

Palamo is one of four members of that squad who are now in Dubai with the USA Sevens team, while Canada Sevens coach Shane Thompson has also named a few among his 12 players, including Adam Kleeberger, Sean-Michael Stephen and DTH van der Merwe. 

Skills honed in Sevens

New Zealand have been the most successful team on the IRB Sevens circuit with seven overall titles in eight years, but the All Blacks’ World Cup squad featured only five players to have played on the circuit under Tietjens – Rokocoko, Nick Evans, Chris Masoe, Rodney So’oialo and Isaia Toeava.

Only France, Ireland, South Africa (all four), Tonga (three) and Romania – a regular on the European circuit, they haven't appeared in the Series for a few seasons now – have fewer, although the eventual world champions did boast the tournament’s leading try scorer and IRB Player of the Year Bryan Habana among their quartet of IRB Sevens graduates.

And while Stephen Larkham may not have been one of the eight Australians to have played on the IRB Sevens World Series – unlike their leading try scorer Drew Mitchell and point scorer Matt Giteau at RWC 2007 – the fly half was under no illusions as to the benefit of Sevens to some of the smaller nations.

“A lot of the best players from sides such as Portugal have honed their skills by playing Sevens against top performers from around the world. Many of those skills transfer over to the 15-man game,” Larkham told The Guardian just before the World Cup.

Only time will tell who will emerge as potential World Cup players for 2011 and beyond, but the 2007/08 IRB Sevens World Series kicks off with the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens on 30 November with the new faces boosted by further evidence of the pathway the sport provides to the top of the 15-a-side game.

Statistics provided by Hour Glass Vision