RUGBY is back for the summer with a new tournament set to keep players in shape over the off-season.
The Barbarians Rugby Union club will launch the New England Mutual Summer Sevens on Friday night in what will be the first of four competition dates.
Organiser Sam Piddington said he had invited members of all rugby teams in Armidale, as well as rugby league players, to attend on Friday night.
“What we’ll do is pick four teams on the night and the players will then stay with those four teams over the duration of the tournament,” he said.
“It’s going to be a good social competition and a good way for players to blow off the cobwebs in the summer.”
The matches will be played at Alcatraz Park, located behind the Exhibition Centre on Kirkwood Street.
“If you want to have a bit of fun, then definitely come down,” Piddington said.
“It’s not just footballers that can play.”
Rugby Sevens is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. Teams of seven play two seven-minute halves and the sport will feature at the Olympics for the first time in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.