NS Rugby Discussion Thread (v.2)

[Ko-oren]

With the rugby Union club competition started in the domestic thread, is there anyone in favour of a rugby league club competition? I wouldn't mind hosting it, but I'd like to know if anyone would be on board. I'm a little busy now, but in about a week and a half/two weeks I should have more than enough time to get it going.

[Apox]

Thanks to Lisander for covering for me on the RUCT - I've been a bit busy of late. Should be all good to host the next one though.

EDIT: In response to Ko-oren, I know there was a domestic league tourney which used to take place (the IRLCC??) which was hosted by Ancharmunn and Paradystopia at various points. I'd have no problem with you reviving it personally.

[Darmen]

I'd be all for reviving the IRLCC.

[Neu Engollon]

With the rugby Union club competition started in the domestic thread, is there anyone in favour of a rugby league club competition? I wouldn't mind hosting it, but I'd like to know if anyone would be on board. I'm a little busy now, but in about a week and a half/two weeks I should have more than enough time to get it going.

Thanks to Lisander for covering for me on the RUCT - I've been a bit busy of late. Should be all good to host the next one though.

EDIT: In response to Ko-oren, I know there was a domestic league tourney which used to take place (the IRLCC??) which was hosted by Ancharmunn and Paradystopia at various points. I'd have no problem with you reviving it personally.

I might jump back in. We definitely should keep the rankings intact as those that did participate in IRLCC deserve the credit, especially considering how sporadic it was.

[Ko-oren]

Seeing as the last IRLCC is from almost 4 years ago, there are a couple things I'd like to steal from it, but also a few things I want to do differently. These are my ideas so far:

- Keep the name IRLCC as is.
- Every nation may send up to two teams: champions and runners-up (much like the RUCT).
- Reset the rankings to zero, as the last one was RL (and IC?) a really long time ago.
- Rankings to work much like the RUCT:

0.5 points for a win in prelim stage, 0.25 points for a draw
1 point for reaching group stage
1 points for a win, 0.5 point for a draw in group stage
2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw in knock-outs

- A nation's coefficient for a tournament is the average of its teams' coefficients for that tournament. A nation's overall coefficient is the nation's separate tournament coefficients added together. (again, much like the RUCT)
- In calculating coefficients, the results of the last three IRLCCs will be added together, with every IRLCC counting 100%. (much like the RUCT, but three tournaments instead of four)

Example:
Team coefficients:
Team A - Nation A: 3 pts in IRLCC 9, 1 pt in IRLCC 10, 0 pts in IRLCC 11 = overall coefficient of 4 pts
Team B - Nation A: 5 pts in IRLCC 9, 0 pts in IRLCC 10, 7 pts in IRLCC 11 = overall coefficient of 12 pts

National coefficients:
Nation A: 4 pts for IRLCC 9, 0,5 pt for IRLCC 10, 3,5 pts for IRLCC 11 = overall coefficient of 8 pts

After IRLCC 12 is concluded, all points for IRLCC 9 will disappear and the coefficient will be calculated over the 3 most recent tournament. In this example, those would be 10, 11 and 12 after IRLCC 12's conclusion.

- If a team is entered that is new to the IRLCC, they will be given a provisional rank for that tournament which is 75% of the nation's coefficient if that team is that nation's champion and 50% if it is that nation's runner-up.
- Optimally, there would be 16 teams (4 groups x 4 teams) in each IRLCC, though the tournament can run on 12 teams (4 groups x 3 teams), or even on eight if necessary (2 groups x 4 teams), but not fewer than that. Every group has two teams moving on to the next round, and so on until the final.
- Each group will be a full round robin (home and away). Knockouts will consist of a home and away fixture as well. The final will be a single match played on neutral ground.

What are your thoughts on this? What have I overlooked?

[Darmen]

<snip>

Everything looks good, the only thing I have to ask is if the IRLCC did draw more than 16 teams, would there be a qualification round(s) prior to the group stage, or would it be hard capped at 16 entrants?

[Ko-oren]

<snip>

Everything looks good, the only thing I have to ask is if the IRLCC did draw more than 16 teams, would there be a qualification round(s) prior to the group stage, or would it be hard capped at 16 entrants?

The more the merrier, so even after 16 entrants, it's going to be qualification rounds. Depending on popularity, if there are 20 teams, I could be looking at 5 groups x 4 teams as well, but that's something that will have to work itself out in the future.

[Ko-oren]

Please excuse the double post, but if there are no more objections to the above, I'll start planning. I should have a post up on Saturday with more details in the Rugby Domestic thread, including a deadline for signups for the IRLCC. I'll get a post up at the end of the RUCT and I'm aiming for the deadlines of the IRLCC and the RUCT to be at the same time.

[Elejamie]

Howdy howdy, this is your 7s VP with a few things that Neu Engollon and I have discussed on Discord:

1) The Rugby Sevens World Cup WILL go ahead. However, I'm still waiting for Lisander to get back to us with the updated scoresheet, where the 16-1 points have been given out accordingly and we've got our 16 confirmed qualifiers for the R7WC; if he is unable to do this for any particular reason then I am more than happy to do it myself since TKC kindly did 5th, 7th, 11th, 13th and 15th place games as well as the Plate finals. I'm also waiting for Ceni to update the rankings, although if anyone else knows how to do them then that would be greatly appreciated. Ideally I want to get this all sorted out before the end of next week so I can open up host bids and get this started, so please get back to me with this stuff ASAP.

2) Despite the numerous issues we've had with this one (namely the delays and one of the hosts CTEing) there should hopefully be another NSRB Sevens Series in the next couple of months. However, we've got a few changes planned, mostly to fix the aforementioned issues:

1. The first is that we're aiming for a specific number of hosts for each series. That way, we have a consistent number of tournaments for each year so everything will hopefully run smoothly. Ideally we'd want three or four, with five as an absolute dead maximum. We're also hoping to get some back up hosts, just in case the original hosts CTE or are otherwise unable to host, but we'll see how it goes.
2. The second is that we're going to have one or two* regular stops, which is basically a tournament that will be held every series. One of these is going to be the AVBF7s, as Neu Engollon confirmed it in our chat we had over Discord. The other might be the URSA 7s, although that depends on what Lisander has to say; if he isn't interested then we'll just keep the AVBF 7s as the one regular stop. However, to get us to whatever the magic number will be, we'll also have guest stops. It's basically the same as what we did when we first started this thing, where if you want to host a sevens tournament then you just post a host bid here.
3. And the third is that we're aiming to have specific spots on the calendar for people to host their tournaments. As in we'll all have a look and see which are the best times to hold a tournament (not as in exact dates but rather which month and all that good stuff) and post them here. If you're a host and you like the look of one date, then all you have to do is let us know and we'll see what we can do. And while I would recommend putting it in a personal calendar or something like that, I'll probably give you a headsup via TG or something along those lines. This is primarily to avoid any delays, especially ones like that 5-month one we had in between the URSA 7s and the Savojar 7s.

If anyone has any questions or if anyone wants me to make something clear, then don't be afraid to ask and I should hopefully get back to you. If I've missed anything that we've discussed in our chat, Neu Engollon, then also please let me know so I can edit it in.

*Two or three if and when I finally get a computer with Java, meaning I can run Xkoranate and host a tournament.

[South Toronto]

When would the next rugby event be?

[Elejamie]

When would the next rugby event be?

Hopefully soon. While the Rugby Sevens World Cup is pretty much limited to the top 16 teams at the end of this Series, the next one should hopefully start at the end of next month, if not sometime in September, since that's when Neu Engollon's hoping to start the next Alpen View Brew Festival 7s.

[Lisander]

Hello, my dear fellows.

I humbly ask your apologies. I think I've been missed (not as much as Qasden with IBC), but a nice thing is running in my life. I joined a translation club in University and we're working to publish an article in Portuguese. This is our first published article, so between lots of revisions and contacts with the original publisher, my weeks of vacation are going over. I've been keeping an eye here and there, and in this week, I'll post the final results of RUCT, as well as Sevens Ranking and Series Table, to start up the bidding process.

I also want to remind all of you this tournament is the last of my tenure as VP, so soon after it, we'll open elections to Vice-Presidents.

EDIT: URSA Sevens (and its sister tournament, LARFC International Sevens) will come back to a third edition.

[Neu Engollon]

When would the next rugby event be?

Hopefully soon. While the Rugby Sevens World Cup is pretty much limited to the top 16 teams at the end of this Series, the next one should hopefully start at the end of next month, if not sometime in September, since that's when Neu Engollon's hoping to start the next Alpen View Brew Festival 7s.

Hopefully the R7WC very, very soon. As Elejamie mentioned, you can guarantee that I will be doing the AVBF 7's in early September. While I'm at it, I'm going to stake permanent claim to the NSRB 7's slot of August-October. I have run the AVBF consistently around that time and I have no plans of slowing down now.

[Neu Engollon]

Hello, my dear fellows.

I humbly ask your apologies. I think I've been missed (not as much as Qasden with IBC), but a nice thing is running in my life. I joined a translation club in University and we're working to publish an article in Portuguese. This is our first published article, so between lots of revisions and contacts with the original publisher, my weeks of vacation are going over. I've been keeping an eye here and there, and in this week, I'll post the final results of RUCT, as well as Sevens Ranking and Series Table, to start up the bidding process.

I also want to remind all of you this tournament is the last of my tenure as VP, so soon after it, we'll open elections to Vice-Presidents.

EDIT: URSA Sevens (and its sister tournament, LARFC International Sevens) will come back to a third edition.

Congrats on the article! I hope that works out. No need to apologize. RL always comes first.

[Elejamie]

Apologies it's not as nice-looking as Lisander's usual charts but at least it shows us our 16 qualifiers for the Rugby Sevens World Cup. Hopefully this should be right, since Darmen posted a rough table on the Discord (so thanks for that, buddy, really appreciate it. Not sarcasm, by the way, genuinely thanking you) and, as previously mentioned, The Kiaser Colonies was nice enough to do finals for all the other places which was really helpful even if it wasn't intended. If there are any mistakes (other than the one I just noticed while I was writing this post but can't be bothered to go back and fix just yet), I can go back, fix them and upload a new table. As for what each colour means:

• Dark yellow (which is supposed to be gold) basically means that this nation has qualified.
• Frenline Delpha is in red because, while they qualified, they CTE'd a while back which would pose some problems if it weren't for the next point.
• Green means that, if Frenline Delpha hasn't returned when the tournament starts (whenever that'll be), they'll be replaced by one of these nations*.
• White are basically the other teams, the ones that didn't qualify. Sorry guys, better luck next Series.

*I picked three because, while Racao CTE'd, their main nation Ceni could theoretically bring it back. If they don't/choose not to, then Bvriania would get the extra spot should FD not come back. If they also CTE before the tournament starts, then it goes to Mattijana because they're usually active.

I'd also like to point out that there isn't really much of a prize for finishing first overall in the Sevens Series table, since whoever wins the Rugby Sevens World Cup would win the NSRB Sevens Series overall. That being said, while we could have a minor premiership award, much like the Presidents Trophy from the NHL or the League Leaders' Shield from the Super League, I'm not really sure if it'll actually have any value other than something to RP about.

Hello, my dear fellows.

I humbly ask your apologies. I think I've been missed (not as much as Qasden with IBC), but a nice thing is running in my life. I joined a translation club in University and we're working to publish an article in Portuguese. This is our first published article, so between lots of revisions and contacts with the original publisher, my weeks of vacation are going over. I've been keeping an eye here and there, and in this week, I'll post the final results of RUCT, as well as Sevens Ranking and Series Table, to start up the bidding process.

I also want to remind all of you this tournament is the last of my tenure as VP, so soon after it, we'll open elections to Vice-Presidents.

EDIT: URSA Sevens (and its sister tournament, LARFC International Sevens) will come back to a third edition.

First up, welcome back, mate. No need to apologise for your absence; as Neu Engollon said, RL usually comes first.

Secondly, while I have made a Series Table (seen above) mostly to take the load off but also just to keep things going, I can delete it if you want me to. I'm honestly not bothered.

And thirdly, that's good to hear that both the URSA Sevens and the LARFC International Sevens will be making a comeback. I'd ask if you'd want it to be a regular stop or a guest stop but I'd rather wait for you to get back into the swing of things first before thrusting something like that onto you. That being said, I might have to ask when you'd want to host it, as in which months would be ideal for you, but again that can wait until you've gotten back into this.

[Northwest Kalactin]

(Image)

Apologies it's not as nice-looking as Lisander's usual charts but at least it shows us our 16 qualifiers for the Rugby Sevens World Cup. Hopefully this should be right, since Darmen posted a rough table on the Discord (so thanks for that, buddy, really appreciate it. Not sarcasm, by the way, genuinely thanking you) and, as previously mentioned, The Kiaser Colonies was nice enough to do finals for all the other places which was really helpful even if it wasn't intended. If there are any mistakes (other than the one I just noticed while I was writing this post but can't be bothered to go back and fix just yet), I can go back, fix them and upload a new table. As for what each colour means:

• Dark yellow (which is supposed to be gold) basically means that this nation has qualified.
• Frenline Delpha is in red because, while they qualified, they CTE'd a while back which would pose some problems if it weren't for the next point.
• Green means that, if Frenline Delpha hasn't returned when the tournament starts (whenever that'll be), they'll be replaced by one of these nations*.
• White are basically the other teams, the ones that didn't qualify. Sorry guys, better luck next Series.

*I picked three because, while Racao CTE'd, their main nation Ceni could theoretically bring it back. If they don't/choose not to, then Bvriania would get the extra spot should FD not come back. If they also CTE before the tournament starts, then it goes to Mattijana because they're usually active.

I'd also like to point out that there isn't really much of a prize for finishing first overall in the Sevens Series table, since whoever wins the Rugby Sevens World Cup would win the NSRB Sevens Series overall. That being said, while we could have a minor premiership award, much like the Presidents Trophy from the NHL or the League Leaders' Shield from the Super League, I'm not really sure if it'll actually have any value other than something to RP about.

Hello, my dear fellows.

I humbly ask your apologies. I think I've been missed (not as much as Qasden with IBC), but a nice thing is running in my life. I joined a translation club in University and we're working to publish an article in Portuguese. This is our first published article, so between lots of revisions and contacts with the original publisher, my weeks of vacation are going over. I've been keeping an eye here and there, and in this week, I'll post the final results of RUCT, as well as Sevens Ranking and Series Table, to start up the bidding process.

I also want to remind all of you this tournament is the last of my tenure as VP, so soon after it, we'll open elections to Vice-Presidents.

EDIT: URSA Sevens (and its sister tournament, LARFC International Sevens) will come back to a third edition.

First up, welcome back, mate. No need to apologise for your absence; as Neu Engollon said, RL usually comes first.

Secondly, while I have made a Series Table (seen above) mostly to take the load off but also just to keep things going, I can delete it if you want me to. I'm honestly not bothered.

And thirdly, that's good to hear that both the URSA Sevens and the LARFC International Sevens will be making a comeback. I'd ask if you'd want it to be a regular stop or a guest stop but I'd rather wait for you to get back into the swing of things first before thrusting something like that onto you. That being said, I might have to ask when you'd want to host it, as in which months would be ideal for you, but again that can wait until you've gotten back into this.

Can we make a competition for the nations that didn’t qualify

[Ceni]

*I picked three because, while Racao CTE'd, their main nation Ceni could theoretically bring it back. If they don't/choose not to, then Bvriania would get the extra spot should FD not come back. If they also CTE before the tournament starts, then it goes to Mattijana because they're usually active.

As I'm retiring from NS Sport, I don't think I'll be reviving Racao in the near future - feel free to carry on without them.

[Neu Engollon]

Can we make a competition for the nations that didn’t qualify

Yes, it's every NSRB Sevens tournament that isn't the WC. The next one will be in September, the AVBF 7s, unless someone hosts one sooner, but as I will be putting up sign ups for the AVBF in about two weeks or less, I doubt that will happen. If you would like to start a tournament that would run concurrent with the R7WC, feel free to do so, but I can't promise you it will get NSRB sanctioning.

Also, you probably didn't need to quote everything said before you to ask that question, but that's just a personal peeve of mine, not a site rule.

[Neu Engollon]

As I'm retiring from NS Sport, I don't think I'll be reviving Racao in the near future - feel free to carry on without them.

End of an era. I will miss Racao, but I won't accept that it nor you won't be back some day.

[Elejamie]

-PASNIPIC STATE-

Can we make a competition for the nations that didn’t qualify

To be honest, while I think that would be a brilliant idea, I'm afraid that it wouldn't really work out. Mostly because few of the nations on the tables have already CTE'd, which could make uneven groups: Frenline Delpha left a while back, which is why we're having this discussion over who should replace them for the R7WC if they don't come back in time; Marianne also left a while back but since they didn't qualify it's not that much of an issue; and Ceni's leaving (meaning that Racao won't be brought back), so that could pose a few problems. Not to mention that I don't think that many of the nations left in it would pay it any attention (and their mains would probably concentrate more on the R7WC if they qualified for it).

In short: Not a bad idea but I'm sorry to say that it's a no from me. Besides, as Neu Engollon said, you're more than welcome to start your own sevens tourney that's happening at the same time if you don't want to wait for the fourth AVBF 7s but it won't really be NSRB sanctioned.

*I picked three because, while Racao CTE'd, their main nation Ceni could theoretically bring it back. If they don't/choose not to, then Bvriania would get the extra spot should FD not come back. If they also CTE before the tournament starts, then it goes to Mattijana because they're usually active.

As I'm retiring from NS Sport, I don't think I'll be reviving Racao in the near future - feel free to carry on without them.

Right, thanks for letting me know. In that case, I'll send Bvriania a TG when the R7WC starts if Frenline Delpha doesn't come back; if they also CTE, then I'll let Mattijana know. And while it's sad to hear that you're leaving NS Sports (although I'm not sure if you're leaving the site altogether so, if you're not, ignore this bit), I wish you the best of luck with your future endeavours.

[Elejamie]

Also, apologies for the double post but, due to problems with getting the rankings, I've decided to open up host bids for the Rugby Sevens World Cup. As a result, I've given you this handy FAQ to guide you through this exciting new rebooted tournament!

• What is the Rugby Sevens World Cup?
  
  As you'd expect it's literally a World Cup for rugby sevens. And, indeed, it was around for quite a while, lasting three tournaments (from what I understand) before going dormant. Probably because we started to have smaller sevens tournaments instead, such as the Londinium Sevens, the AVBF 7s, etc. This was probably before I really got involved with NS Sports so naturally I'm probably incorrect and/or simplifying here; feel free to correct me or add more information.
  
  Either way, during an off-site discussion with my fellow NSRB VPs Lisander and Neu Engollon, we decided to bring it back, with me saying it should be a grand finale to the Series. At first, I thought it should be open for everyone but, after much discussion, we agreed that the top 16 teams at the end of the Series would qualify for the tournament, not only to make it seem more competitive but also to encourage people to stay on after their first sevens tourney. Why 16? I'll tell you in a bit.
  
  And yes, this new set-up for the R7WC will be a continuation of the old R7WC, so keep that in mind. Which means that this next tournament will be the 4th Rugby Sevens World Cup.
  

  ---

• So who can bid to host?
  
  Ideally, host bids are open to anyone who qualified for the tournament, which are basically the people listed in gold here. However, I'm going to be nice and let people who didn't qualify put up a host bid anyway, just so we'd definitely have that 16 if they're successful. And yes, that includes both Bvriania and Mattijana, who didn't qualify but were listed in green as potential replacements for Frenline Delpha.
  

  ---

• So what are you looking for in a host bid?
  
  - A stadium where each game will be played, maybe two if there's an absolute dire need to have an extra stadium for whatever reason. Due to the fact that rugby sevens is a fast-paced game (with matches in general lasting 15-20 minutes and tournaments lasting a couple of days), there isn't any need for multiple stadiums dotted around the country to host games. As a result, joint bids won't be allowed. Sorry.
  - Someone who'd be willing to host it with little to no difficulties. Delayed cut-offs are fine, especially if it's something out of your control like an emergency or the site going down, although don't make it too much of a delay. Things like the four month delay in between the URSA Sevens and the Savojar Sevens definitely aren't fine. A backup scorinator might be brought in should there be too much of a delay, but we'll have to wait and see.
  - A method of scorinating. I personally recommend Xkoranate, as that's what everyone uses. Other scorinators might be allowed but it depends on what my fellow NSRB VPs would think.
  - How you're going to run the tournament. Are you going to have them compete for the cup, plate, bowl or shield depending on where they finish in the group? Will the top half of each group compete for the cup whereas the bottom half will have to compete for a lesser trophy? Will the top two teams in each group go through to the next round and they play it out like a World Cup in a different sport? Or do you have some other way of doing it? It's all up to you. Coincidentally, this was why I decided on sixteen teams, as it was the best number for this sort of thing.
  - Experience in hosting. Not super necessary and you can definitely put up a bid if you've only ever done newswires but having some knowledge of what to do when hosting might be a bit of a bonus.
  - Some IC information. Also not super necessary but it would provide a bit of good backstory and could get people to vote for your bid.
  

  ---

• Can anyone who hosted a Sevens Series tournament bid to host the Rugby Sevens World Cup?
  
  Yes they can. I don't see why they shouldn't. In fact, they don't have to use the same stadium they used in their stop if they don't want to. So, for example, if I hosted a sevens tournament in Edgebaston* and I wanted to host the Rugby Sevens World Cup, I could have it in Coventry, Avon, Davenport or any other city in my nation. Another example, using real life countries, would be the USA having their Sevens Series tournament in Las Vegas yet when they hosted the Rugby Sevens World Cup all the matches were held in San Francisco.
  

  ---

• Where do we post our host bids?
  
  Here, in this thread. Once we reach the deadline, which will be next week** (because this has gone on long enough and not that many teams are in it anyway), I'll put up an announcement post letting everyone know how and where to send your votes, as well as who can send them. Don't worry, I'll post links to them in the announcement post just so you won't need to go back through.

And that should be everything. Any questions or comments, feel free to post them below and I'll happily answer or explain it; while I don't recommend sending me a TG, I'm not going to stop you or complain if you decide to send me one instead as I'll also happily answer or explain it. If I've missed anything, also please let me know so I can sort things out. Nothing else to say that I can think of so start your bidding, folks!

EDITED: Turns out that I should've better researched it, turns out there were three Rugby Sevens World Cups before they called it a day.

* Not to be conufsed with Edgbaston, both an area of Birmingham and the cricket ground there. But I did name Edgebaston in Elejamie after it, with the extra E ICly being a typo when they were naming the city (OOCly, I have no reason for it).

** If the link doesn't work, the deadline for host bids is Thursday 9th August 2018 at 12am UK time (which at the minute it UTC+1 due to daylight savings). It may not seem like much time but a) considering this is a small tournament of 16 teams I don't imagine there being a lot of bids and b) I really need this started ASAP, it will have to do.

[Lisander]

Before starting my words, I’d like to thank Elejamie, Neu Engollon and Apox for covering my fails. You are great. I still have to properly apologize on Discord to all of you.

For sure, Lisander Rugby Festival will be back this November (maybe earlier or later, depending on how the calendar would be managed). It will include, as usual, URSA Sevens and LARFC Club Sevens.

I’d also like to thank all the congratulations (for Lisander winning the Watson’s Bay Sevens and Osea Rugby winning the RUCT 28), as well as the commiserations (for Saracens reaching the final in same tournament). Means a lot to me to have reached this point in NS Rugby, and I feel a little bad to be so much “out of the discussion” recently.

Following to the Rugby Sevens World Cup, here you have the Sevens Rankings updated. Even if Lisander won Watson’s Bay Int’l Sevens, due to my ridiculous amount of RP recently, I do not feel that entitled to the top of the ranking.

Last, but not least, due to recent success of Alicean Rugby, and following the story that started in this topic, I’ll be offering Dragons Park in Newport, Alice Bay as a proposed host for Rugby Sevens World Cup. The proper host bid should be up in the next hours.

[Elejamie]

Before starting my words, I’d like to thank Elejamie, Neu Engollon and Apox for covering my fails. You are great. I still have to properly apologize on Discord to all of you.

For sure, Lisander Rugby Festival will be back this November (maybe earlier or later, depending on how the calendar would be managed). It will include, as usual, URSA Sevens and LARFC Club Sevens.

I’d also like to thank all the congratulations (for Lisander winning the Watson’s Bay Sevens and Osea Rugby winning the RUCT 28), as well as the commiserations (for Saracens reaching the final in same tournament). Means a lot to me to have reached this point in NS Rugby, and I feel a little bad to be so much “out of the discussion” recently.

Following to the Rugby Sevens World Cup, here you have the Sevens Rankings updated. Even if Lisander won Watson’s Bay Int’l Sevens, due to my ridiculous amount of RP recently, I do not feel that entitled to the top of the ranking.

Last, but not least, due to recent success of Alicean Rugby, and following the story that started in this topic, I’ll be offering Dragons Park in Newport, Alice Bay as a proposed host for Rugby Sevens World Cup. The proper host bid should be up in the next hours.

First of all, you're welcome. And, again, no need to apologise, real life is usually more important than this.

Secondly, it's not really a question of who deserves to be top of the rankings, as it all comes down to luck and what the hosts thought was a good RP. Besides, I'm not bothered about being second in the rankings and I'm not bothered about coming second in the Watson's Bay 7s; while I may have finished top of the Sevens Series table and have been the only team to get points in double digits, it's nothing really worth getting excited about other than maybe my team winning some sort of minor premiership trophy. Either way, thanks for getting the rankings done.

Thirdly, that's good to hear that the Lisander Rugby Festival will return. Even though you said it would return a couple of weeks ago, it's nice to have confirmation. While I have no idea on what the calendar would be like (whether it be two Serieses in one year or if it'll be just the one), it should be something that'll start to be sorted out after the R7WC and maybe after the elections.

And fourthly, that's also great to hear that there'll be a host bid up soon. Bonus points for using Alice Bay, who sadly didn't qualify due to them finishing joint last but will give us that all-important 16th team that we desperately need to get it done should they get picked to host. In fact, if anyone else is thinking about hosting, you have around four days left to get a bid posted, with a handy guide that I have written here if you need any help with what to put in.

[Alice Bay]

The Venue
Dragons Park is the Stadium of Newport Rugby Union. The local team, Dragons, are the current Unions Cup Champions. The venue itself is an 18,000 seat stadium. Extra information about the nation may be posted if required.


If anyone is interested in using images in your roleplay, the image is from AMI Stadium (Rugby League Park), Christchurch, NZ.

Scorinating
Scorination, as usual, will use good old xkoranate, with most recent Rugby Sevens Rankings (after Watson’s Bay Sevens). Bonus, as usual, will be generous and assigned to quality over quantity. As a personal taste, good use of images and formatting is encouraged and will be treated as a differential in roleplay quality.

Format
The Sixteen teams will be drawn to four groups of four teams. The top two of each group advances to the Cup, the third-placed teams to the Plate and the fourth-placed teams to the bowl.

On the current Alicean timeline, the tournament will take place in an August weekend, but feel free to adjust it to your timeline as you wish. To give enough RP time to each nation, each round will span over a period of the day. A complete calendar with all matches will be presented and updated in the RP Topic.

Experience in Hosting/Scorinating
Alice Bay hadn’t hosted an international event before, but when you think about Alice Bay you may think Lisander, since both nations are from the same user.

Lisander also doesn’t have a big portfolio of events but had successfully hosted two editions of URSA Sevens and one of LARFC Sevens. Also acted as third-party scorinator for several rugby matches in other tournaments. If this counts, Lisander also has scorinated domestic leagues of Association Football, Rugby Union, Basketball, Cricket, Ice Hockey and Motorsport.

[Elejamie]

OK, after that extra hour that I definitely planned to give everyone after the midnight time limit, I'm afraid it's time to say "Time gentlemen, please" and say that we won't be taking any more host bids. Which means it's time to vote for a bid. So here are your options:

1 - Accept the bid from Alice Bay
2 - Reopen bidding
3 - Abstain

Voting is open to anyone listed here, regardless of whether or not they qualified (mostly because it would seem a bit unfair to close it off only to people who qualified). All votes MUST be sent to the NS Rugby Board Executive Council. The nations that are listed below aren't allowed to vote, as well as why:

• Myself, Neu Engollon and Lisander for being NSRB VPs
• Hutanjia, New South Munster (when TKC returns) and Copper Cuprum as they're puppets
• Alice Bay for being both a puppet and the sole host bidder

Due to there not being a whole load of teams taking part, as well as the fact that I kind of want this up and done with, the deadline will be 12am UK time on Saturday 11th August, 2018 (6pm CDT, 4PM PDT on Friday 10th August, 2018). Any questions or comments, don't be afraid to ask and I'll try and help out to the best of my abilities. Alright, now that I can't think of anything else to say, get ready to vote.