9th to 12th of April, the Deloitte French Riviera Rugby Sevens, organised by SKEMA, took place just a few miles along the coast from the Sophia Antipolis campus. SKEMA’s rugby team has been four times champions of France. This tournament was organised to test not only on-the-pitch rugby skills, but also students’ event management competences, at a global level.
This was the tournament’s first year, others will follow.
The event was sponsored by Deloitte (the official partner), Société Générale, Kaora (rugby clothing), Art Plus, Noéva and the Chamber of Commerce.
Teams from around the world competed: Japan, Pakistan, Kenya, Spain, Switzerland, Britain, Romania…29 matches took place over two days. Three of the teams arrived several days in advance so as to acclimatise themselves to the new climate and time zone.
The favourites won: the Wasadas from the University of Japan. The Wasadas are virtually superstars in Japan; some of their players are even in the Japanese national football team. Posters of them adorn Tokyo city-centre skyscrapers. Stiff competition indeed!
In second place were the Kenyans, from Strathmore University; third place went to the British, from Aston University.
When receiving their third place medals at the podium, the British team –charmed by the French custom of kissing on both cheeks– surprised all present by kissing everyone there, including the director of the school, Alice Guilhon.
The Sunday night closing party was a big success, finishing in the wee small hours, the participants
making friends and getting to know each other’s cultures all the better.
This was not only an exercise in rugby skills for SKEMA, it was also an exercise in event management. Principally, it was five SKEMA students who managed the event, organised at the initiative of Fabien Charreyre, a student, and Regis Brandinelli, deputy managing director of SKEMA.
The event gave the organising students an opportunity to apply some of the management, and project management principles learned in class
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