(PRESS RELEASE) — First for the Game: Never before has the IRB Sevens World Series been to Las Vegas. There is about a week to go until Las Vegas hosts the USA Sevens, the largest rugby event in North America and the fourth stop on the global IRB Sevens World Series. The Feb. 13-14 event follows the NZI Sevens in Wellington, New Zealand, in which Fiji defeated Samoa for the Cup 19-14.

The competition will feature international sides from 16 of rugby’s superpower and developing nations — USA, New Zealand, France, Australia, England, South Africa, Wales, Scotland, Samoa, Fiji, Argentina, Japan, Canada, Chile, Kenya, and Guyana.

“The general response to the event from fans, media and sponsors has gone to another level since we announced the move to Vegas,” said Tournament Director and former US Eagles captain Dan Lyle.

“Vegas is iconic, it’s world class in terms of the sporting spectacles that it consistently lays on, and that mirrors everything else that they do in the city in terms of entertainment, service, standards and so forth.

“That on top of the Olympic announcement for Sevens means that people are genuinely interested now in what we are doing, which leads us to believe that we really are going to have an incredible event."

SEVENS: AN OLYMPIC SPORT

If the USA event has benefited from the move to Vegas, the whole of Rugby received arguably its biggest ever boost in October when Sevens was voted overwhelmingly by the IOC onto the sporting program for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

“The Olympics is part of the language that the American people speak. Rugby was a part of the peripheral language that they spoke but now becomes a part of that mainstream,” added Lyle.

“In terms of interest in the tournament overall, I’d say there’s been seven or eight times more interest in the build-up this year than at this same stage in previous years, when we were in Los Angeles or San Diego, and when Sevens was not yet accepted into the Olympic family.

“It’s going to be interesting to see how that extra interest translates into ticket sales, but we’re definitely ahead of where we were (last year) by some 20 or 30 percent.”

FAN FESTIVAL

Aside from 44 action-packed, 14-minute games of Sevens rugby, the 2010 USA Sevens Fan Festival will also provide spectators with all the fun and entertainment that is now synonymous with Sevens away from the pitch.

The family-friendly Festival will provide activities for both adults and children, including games, music and sporting activities. A jumbo screen will beam the live action from the field throughout the stadium and a number of bands and dance troops will provide a local and international flavour.

“We’ve travelled the World Series over the past few years in order to bring the very best of what the other events do to our own local fans, and I think it’s fair to say that there will be something for everyone in Vegas,” said Lyle. “Of course, first and foremost, we need to make sure that the sport goes off well and that the athletes are taken care of and have everything they need, and also the fans.”

(Source: Internatioanl Rugby Board Media Release, irb.com)