Midweek Fixture: The future of women's rugby is sevens

Portia Woodman scored a double in the Langford Sevens final against Australia. Photosport

Three quick-hit thoughts from the weekend and beyond:

1. We have the wrong sevens tournament in Hamilton. If it costs too much or is too difficult to stage a double-up tournament, then ditch the men.

Having witnessed New Zealand's demolition of Australia in the final of the Canadian event – and the supersonic speed in which the women's game is advancing in terms of skills, speed and strength – it is a travesty that this country does not host a round of the women's world series.

The problems are both logistical and financial, evidently. A double-up tournament requires three days, not two, and you cannot recoup the extra costs associated with that through tickets, which is the host country's sole source of revenue.

You have every right to be sceptical about claims of prohibitive costs. New Zealand Rugby has cash reserves somewhere in the region of $50 million. It's sometimes referred to as a rainy day fund but with the All Blacks such an attractive broadcasting proposition (and the chance to leverage the brand further on digital rights down the track), and World Rugby's showpiece tournament raking in big cash for its stakeholders, it's hard to see where the crash is coming.

That money could be instead used as a sunny day fund and right now there is nothing in the sport quite as warm and fuzzy as the Black Ferns sevens.

This side is a brilliant advertisement for the sport. Players like Portia Woodman, Michaela Blyde, Sarah Goss and Tyla Nathan-Wong are fast becoming regulars in the national sporting conversation.

There's always a danger of appearing patronising when making sweeping judgements, but it seems obvious to me that the future of women's rugby is sevens.

All the more reason to make sure New Zealand is part of the sevens circuit, not outside observers.

2. Brendon McCullum is probably wrong about test cricket, but I give him full marks for saying it. Test cricket has so many issues, but it means too much in a few powerful countries to die.

"I firmly believe that test cricket won't be around in time, because there are only so many teams that can afford to play it," he said to online magazine The Cricket Monthly. "Whilst we all adore test cricket, and for me it is the purest form of the game - I'm loyal to it - I'm also a realist that people are turning up and watching T20.

"Long long-term, I see a T20 franchise as owning players, and I don't see them releasing those players to play for their nation in a test match."

We're reaching a critical mass point for specific windows to be carved out for T20, but why would franchises want to own players for parts of the year there is no tournament?

The obvious answer, and perhaps where McCullum is headed here, is that cash cows like the IPL and Big Bash will look to expand and get bigger.

Perhaps they will. In a dystopian cricket world perhaps the IPL runs for seven months like the American baseball season.

But as far as I can see, the players still love tests too much and no administrator will want it on his or her hands that they played a role in the killing of the greatest game ever invented. We're all in it for love, not money after all.

Hmmm, the more I think about it, perhaps McCullum has a point.

3. Get in front of a telly at some stage this weekend and watch the way Fox Sports covers the V8 Supercars. Look at how it works in synch with the digital coverage on supercars.com.

There are so many lessons to be learned there for so many sports trying to get their slice of the public-interest pie. It's outstanding: the production values are first-class, the talent is hyper-knowledgeable, the meaningful access to drivers and pit crews is eye-opening and virtually every aspect of the coverage has a point.

THE WEEK IN MEDIA ...

Thanks to the Daily Telegraph, I now know about Doreen Simmons. You should too.

This is from March and I missed it, but it's good and extremely difficult. Warning: It deals in an explicit manner with the subject of suicide. From the New York Times.