National Sevens in Rotorua next year

The National Sevens competition is returning to Rotorua next year. Here Bay player Mason Walker is tackled during January's tournament. Photo / File

The Bayleys National Sevens competition will stay in Rotorua for at least one more year, after a review by the New Zealand Rugby Union.

The tournament was held at the Rotorua International Stadium in January, attracting thousands of spectators and the best provincial teams.

The huge Sevens festival moved from Queenstown to Rotorua in 2014, after Bay of Plenty Rugby won a two-year bid to host it.

Following a review New Zealand Rugby made a decision last week to keep the event in Rotorua for 2016.

BOPRU chief executive Mike Rogers said that was great news for the region. "It highlights the confidence that the New Zealand Rugby Union has in the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union and Rotorua community in hosting this high-profile event.

"It is just for one year then we will work through a review after the event, which is pretty typical.

"From our point of view our goal is to hold on to it for a long time but we understand the rationale behind a one-year contract." While spectator numbers were up this year compared with last year, and the feedback from teams had been good, there was still plenty of room to grow the event in Rotorua.

He said the Rotorua and Bay of Plenty community needed to continue to take ownership of the event to keep it in the Bay.

"Realistically, having it for one more year keeps us on our toes. We need to show New Zealand that we want to hold on to it."

Dates for the 2016 event are yet to be set, but Rogers said it would likely be held around January again. Next year will also mark the first year sevens will feature at the Olympic Games.

Rogers said time would tell whether that would translate to more interest around the National Sevens.

"There is already a lot of interest around high-profile players wanting to put their hand up to play at the Olympics, and we may see some of them feature at the National Sevens next year."