Rugby Sevens World Championship provides 2028 L.A. | College News

On the Dignity Health Sports Park concourse, a group of males sat with drinks in hand, laughing and soaking in the ultimate day of the Rugby Sevens World Championship. Their journey from Cornwall, in southwest England, to Carson spanned 5,408 miles, all for the only goal of cheering on Britain.

Donning customized button-up shirts with matching shorts, they proudly identified the emblems pressed onto their kits — symbols of home. Their outfits featured a Union Jack, a traditional Cornish mining engine home and scones topped with jam first, then cream — the only correct means, they insisted, while chastising anybody who did it otherwise, very similar to their insupportable cousins from the neighboring county of Devon.

The getaway to L.A. wasn’t so a lot a deliberate tour as it was a collection of cellphone calls between seven childhood buddies, all contingent on getting approval from their wives. Unfortunately, the group was greeted with back-to-back dreary, overcast afternoons as an alternative of the trademark California sunshine. Still, the climate didn’t dampen the enjoyable.

“That’s what we like about sevens — it goes all day,” stated Jason Penprase, referring to the raucous ambiance and speedy tempo. “It’s good that we actually get to see nations that you wouldn’t necessarily associate with rugby. … You get to see other nations come forward and play. … It’s got to be good [for the games]. You’re trying to make it a worldwide sport.”

At its core, rugby sevens combines the vibe of a European music pageant and Halloween, with the high-impact, frenzied power of an NFL Sunday. As matches ran concurrently, followers from locations as distant as New Zealand flocked to the 27,000-seat stadium in Carson. The end result was a vibrant melting pot of cultures, with the two-day match offering a preview of what to anticipate when rugby takes the highlight at the 2028 Summer Olympics.

This 12 months’s match, which featured New Zealand successful the ladies’s title and South Africa the boys’s crown, marked the first time the championship was held on American soil. The occasion served not only as an Olympic preview for followers, but also as an expertise for the gamers.

For U.S. ladies’s national participant Nia Toliver, who grew up just miles from Carson in South Central L.A., the chance to compete for a bronze medal close to her hometown allowed her mom, siblings and buddies to witness her journey up close.

“I played rugby in Japan for a couple of years, and they weren’t able to come in and see me play out there, so to have them finally come to a game, and the world championship at that, just means so much,” Toliver stated.

Toliver and her teammates are at the forefront of rugby sevens’ growing national publicity in the U.S., building on the momentum from the national crew’s fascinating bronze-medal run at the Olympic Games in Paris. Having witnessed the game’s growth since starting in high college over a decade in the past, Toliver was excited by the weekend turnout and the potential for even bigger crowds in 2028.

“I’m imagining you’ll be like this for, like, 100 fold,” Toliver stated with a smile. “Because when people showed up in Paris, it was ridiculous. So I’m imagining L.A. just spilling out. … It’s so easy to fall in love with, it’s like there’s no reason for you not to watch.”

Fighting for a bronze against Canada, the U.S. fell short in a 27-7 loss, leaving Toliver deflated. She stays decided, however, to compete for a medal in the Olympics. She was named rookie of the 12 months after the season-ending match, and she might be in line to lead the national crew in three years.

“Once in a lifetime, it’ll be full circle for me,” Toliver stated of the prospect of enjoying in the Olympics.

Much just like the Olympic Games, merely being current meant every part for some nations, and nowhere was that more obvious than with Kenya and its followers. Hundreds of supporters, outfitted with African drums and miniature flags adorned in black, crimson and inexperienced, claimed a part of the decrease bowl, changing into the match’s most boisterous group. Their chants of “Let’s go Kenya!” and “Kenya, aye!” in Kiswahili crammed the stadium with vibrant power.

“It’s not about winning or losing, it’s just about that happiness,” stated Ng’ang’a Njenga, who traveled from Seattle. “We come straight from third-world countries, and when we come and gather like this, have fun, enjoy.”

Armed with a drum by his aspect, Njenga was dressed in a leopard-print Kenyan garb, with a mohawk painted half white and half black, in honor of Lwanda Magere, a Kenyan people hero whose powers lay in the shadows.

Aaron Cummings of the U.S., prime, competes for a line-out against George Ooro Angeyoof of Kenya during the Rugby Sevens World Championships on May 4, 2025.

(Jack Megaw / AEG Rugby)

Njenga was among the numerous who led the drum part, spilling out from the stands, joined by males’s national gamers Denis Abukuse and Vincent Onyala. Together, they led the charge, dancing in circles to the rhythm of the drums.

“We love this,” Njenga added. “That emotion, like life, can be good. Let’s be happy. It’s not about winning or losing in life.”

Players mingling along the walkway, having fun with the festivities, had been a common sight. Fans requested Kenya ladies’s captain Grace Adhiambo Okulu for selfies and autographs as she cheered on the boys’s national crew.

“We really work hard to come into L.A. and the experience you’re getting from everyone. It’s a blessing,” Okulu stated. “Rugby would be fine if the Kenyans were not here. It’s an amazing thing that the Kenyans are here, and definitely they’re not only supporting Kenya, but any team that is playing.”

The occasion was not without criticism from followers like Penprase, who stayed in Long Beach with his mates. He identified the issue of getting around L.A., with fixed Uber rides required due to the metropolis’s restricted public transit choices.

Additionally, some U.S. followers took subject with the setup, which featured two pitches — one inside the stadium and one other on its outskirts. Fans famous that they missed a males’s matchup on the second pitch because of the setup. Multiple pitches are anticipated to be used during the Olympics, in distinction to the single-stadium setup at Stade de France final 12 months.

Despite a few kinks that may need ironing out, just over 27,000 followers visited over the weekend, according to officers. With growing pleasure among attendees, many are already trying forward to the 2028 Games.

After attending the Paris Games, the Cornishmen are doubtlessly eyeing a return flight to LAX in three years, pending the approval of their other halves, of course.

“Never say never — you never know,” Penprase stated, hopeful that the next journey would carry more sunshine.