They have, for a dark eternity, joined the virile and muscular paradise of the oval. It’s been 140 years since two butchers’ boys, Ned Haig and David Sanderson, natives of Melrose (southern Scotland) laid the foundations of rugby 7s (1). Launched a discipline today praised for its side “spectacular” but who they did not have the opportunity to see invited to the Olympic banquet (in this case in Rio de Janeiro).
The year 2016 will nevertheless remain a key date, marking, like a second birth, since although there already existed a World Cup (since 1993) and, in almost all the major XV nations, structured domestic championships, its growth is became exponential after Brazil was the five-ring theater of the first Fijian coronation.
In short, rugby sevens, as in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, seems to go back in time. Defy the laws. Until being reborn?
Become, all together, the best
In any case, since the specifications imposed by the French Rugby Federation (FFR) on professional clubs include the obligation to hire a rugby sevens team (2), the Nissa Seven association has seen the course of its history take a nasty boost. Even a decisive turn.
“Two years ago, when we started the adventure, we were mainly a group of friends who were looking for a solution to fill the summer since, during this period, there is no rugby unionrewinds the progenitor of this newcomer to oval land, Maxence Picardet. So we started, even if the profiles, a priori, are very different, with boys who are often more enduring, faster, more lucid too. And it quickly worked, with excellent results. As a result, Stade Niçois contacted us and we signed a partnership agreement with them, which surely allowed us to be taken more seriously.”
For him, however, what constitutes DNA must remain free from any attempt at hybridization. “80% of our players come from the area, come from Monaco, Grasse, Saint-Laurent, Fréjus or Nice. We voluntarily limit external recruitment to three or four players, because we still need them to feed our ambitions. But in this environment, where the common option is to immediately put together the most efficient team possible, we made a different bet. That of focusing everything on training. The idea is not to seek out those who are already the best but to ensure that, all together, collectively, we become so.”
And there are now around fifty of them, including staff, who have been convinced.
The final against Monaco
By the speech, as by the reality on the ground. A good number of them found themselves living a veritable waking dream, under the leaden sky of Dubai. Dubai where, every year, “The” most important tournament in the world is held (19 competitions organized simultaneously, including 6 women’s and the ultra-media world series, 50,000 people attracted over 3 days, etc.).
“We promised ourselves we would do everything we could to go there one day. And we succeeded, finding ourselves immersed in the heart of the highest level on the planet. To top it off, in the “International open men” tournament, we became the first French team to reach the ). It’s incredible! »
For the occasion, the Nissa seven were able to count on the wise advice of the coach of the MR7 of Monaco (a franchise unrelated to the Impis), Jérémy Aicardi, initially present in the United Arab Emirates to meet the staff of the French team and do some prospecting.
“He listened to his heart and gave us a huge helping hand. And the end result goes far beyond our expectations. He must also offer us more visibility. Moreover, we are already receiving proposals from Namibia, of South Africa, etc. But we have rules and we will never deviate from them. The rise to the Elite, which is the next objective, we will seek it with our weapons and with what shapes our identity. Without the need for resort to a crazy transfer window.”
The objective? “Set up an academy”
Having passed through the channels of professional sport (3), and former opener at the Stade Laurentin (in Federal 3), Maxence Picardet knows he is still young enough (28 years old) to be able, from now on, to imagine another future on the meadows.
Especially since this “Seven” spirit, which he never ceases to praise, suits him wonderfully and has even given him back the pleasure and the desire to taste the very high level again. So to already anticipate the contours of the future.
“The objective is to set up an academy. With a training and accommodation center. And including girls too, since they are really one of our priorities. We have already a team formed, which will officially begin the competition on March 16 and 17.”
Clearly, at Nissa Seven, everything comes together like a transformed essay. Fast and flawless…
(1) By rethinking the rules of a tournament organized for the benefit of their club, with fewer players on the field and reduced playing time (it is 2×7 minutes today) in order to be able to multiply matches on the same daytime.
(2) The Top 14 clubs have rugby sevens teams entered in the Super Seven (Monaco and the Barbarians have a wild card). For those from ProD2 and N1, the teams are divided, depending on the level, into Elite or Development, the equivalent of the 2nd division, in which Nissa Seven also appears.
(3) He attended, among others, the training centers of Toulon and La Rochelle, two residents of the Top 14, then played in Carcassonne and even in Italy, but a cascade of injuries put an end to his career.
