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Robin Heymann

With a reputation of sometimes being rather blasé when it comes to sevens, it is mightily refreshing to finally see the French are out to change this somewhat antiquated attitude. Easter Weekend saw the inaugural Stanislas Sevens take place, bringing together some familiar FIRA nations with a sprinkling of talented elite invitational sides to boot. All assembled at the culturally intriguing town of Nancy nestled in the heart land of Lorraine.

Although this is a country that prides themselves on playing the ‘welcoming host’ card at any opportunity, it still seemed a nice touch from the organisers in promising to cover all the teams costs for the weekend excluding travel. Good start. There was pomp and circumstance pre tournament with an opening ceremony, of sorts, with the mayor and council members jazzing things up to kick things off.

The men making this happen are former 7s international Sylvain Mottet and Clément Lapeyre who also is Chairman and player of the Sud Ouest Ovaile Seven team.

‘We wanted not only to promote the sport in Lorraine, but rugby in Europe. Sevens is a passion here and this good way for the crowd to see a sport which should be in the Olympics,’ says an enthusiastic Lapeyre.

Stanislas is also out to buy into Sevens’ propensity to garner and bond different nations, and this is very much in evidence in Nancy.

‘We truely want to create something that gathers together different origins and cultures, with Stanislas recalling an important part of French culture and history’, added Lapeyre.

By Stanislas he is referring to the the colossal town square, known colloquially as the place Stan'. This is Nancy’s major iconic attraction named after the King of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Duke of Lorraine Stanislaw Leszczyski, and is up there as one of the must see Gallic venues. Although receiving less exposure then the giant Parisiean landmarks it comfortably matches them in awe-inspiring beauty.

Lapeyre is convinced that the 2 day event can play an important part in the training and development of FIRA nations with the likes of Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Czech Republic out for an early season opportunity to blow the dust off the sevens pipes. With the Hannover Sevens (the unofficial European Championships and acting as this year’s World Cup qualification) on the horizon establishing some form in an increasingly competitive sport is key. The overwhelming favourites for the title were the renowned ‘Les Bleu’ outift so often used as a feeder to the national French side that competes at all the IRB World Sevens Series tournaments.

A purpose built 7s pitch was erected for the weekend with all-weather ‘Rubber Crumb’ facilities also utilsed which combined with the sunshine helped made conditions ideal for some champagne moments. This was often seen in the play of Les Bleus, who went through the opening day unbeaten, but another aesthetically pleasing side were the hosts themselves – Sud Ouest Ovaile Seven. They cranked up the style on Day 1 nudging past local rivals Lorraine University before dispatching Franche Comté and République Tchèque, and eventually winning the Plate on Day 2.

Akin to how many of the developing European rugby nations play their 15s, many of the FIRA 7s sides proved equally disciplined in attack and defense whilst basing their approach on highly charged physicality. The Czech National side were an example of this, with their big lumps proving to be formidable propositions at the contact area and breakdown. It didn’t quite make for flamboyant rugby but the obvious hard work of the coaches to breed such organisation needs to be credited. This is surely another example of the seriousness that sevens is being taken in by these various countries.

The French Students, who entered two equal teams (U1 and U2) perhaps turned the most heads over the two days with it being obvious to see why they were World University Champions in 2004 and 2006, being superbly conditioned and organised but also playing a traditional brand of sevens. They both cruised through their quarter-finals without conceding a point between them. In the last four though U1 ran into Les Bleus matching them impressively for much of the duration before falling just short of steam going down 14-10. U2 faired better against an Algerian side (who included some tasty Fijian recruitments) in the second semi, winning through 21-17.

The final proved too much for the Students with Les Bleus possessing the added sevens wherewithal and that little bit of joue and that set them apart from the rest, eventually walking away with the Vainqueur Cup Stanislas 15-12. Mirroring the big boys on the IRB circuit there was often nothing between a lot of the sides, for example the only British team in residence, Elite ID - the official tournament boo-boys, drew 14-14 with Cup finalists U2 on day 1 but stuttered out of the competition at the Bowl Semi-Finals.

‘This was a great way to start the season and we are now looking forward to coming to Manchester 7s with another 12 lads’, said Giancarlo Toufou Les Bleus head coach.

In fact speaking to many of the coaches in the aftermath it seemed they were all pretty happy with the early workout.

‘This is very good way to look at some of the younger players before our international season begins, we have been invited to the London Sevens in May and 2 or 3 of these boys are in with a chance of being selected,’ said German Coach Rainer Kumm.

A closing ceremony in Palais des Sport with the ‘official’ after party on a boat rounded off a special weekend with well deserved refreshments for players slogging it out for 2 days over Easter. The organiser's ultimate aim is to imprint Easter Weekend in the European Sevens minds in years to come.

‘There are tournaments at this date but none of this magnitude and no other international based tournament, so it’s got a definite future. For next year We have some ideas for the moment but we cannot do everything. We are going to show the same tournament with even better teams,' said Lapeyre.

Obviously any virgin tournament faces hiccups and glitches on their first outing but it’s obvious to see Stanislas has genuine potential for the future. The attempt at treating the teams in a professional manner was mostly in evidence, with each team having their own specific liaison officer - a luxury which is offered to nations on the IRB Series. Played out on the backdrop of a town full of mesmeric beauty and history, with the cream of European Sevens in attendance, this tournament was a success. With the super confident and ambitious Lapeye at the helm the gig’s in good hands. Felicitations Stanislas Sevens... c’est bon.