Rugby sevens, and originally known as seven-a-side rugby, is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40 minute halves. Rugby sevens is administered by World Rugby, the body responsible for rugby union worldwide. The game is popular at all levels, with amateur and club tournaments generally held in the summer months. Sevens is one of the most well distributed forms of rugby, and is popular in parts of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and especially in the South Pacific.
Waisale Tikoisolomoni Serevi is a Fijian former rugby union football player and coach, and is a member of the World Rugby Hall of Fame. Serevi is renowned for his achievements in rugby sevens, while also enjoying a long career in fifteen-a-side rugby at both club and national team levels. Nicknamed "The Wizard" by commentators, he is widely considered to be the greatest rugby sevens player in the history of the game. A biography of Serevi titled Waisale Serevi: King of Sevens by Nick Darvenzi was published in 2018.
The Rugby World Cup Sevens is the premier stand-alone international rugby sevens competition outside the Olympic Games. The event is contested every four years, with tournaments for men's and women's national teams co-hosted at the same venues. It is organised by World Rugby, the sport's governing body.
The New Zealand national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. The team has been officially known as the All Blacks Sevens since 1 June 2012.
The 2009 Rugby Sevens World Cup was the fifth edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected Dubai in the United Arab Emirates as the host venue for the tournament ahead of bids from four other countries. The format included nine direct qualifiers and a further fifteen qualifiers from all six regions defined by the IRB. A women's version of the world cup was also held alongside the men's tournament for the first time and featured sixteen teams. The men's cup was won by Wales, with the women's cup going to Australia.
Rugby union in Samoa is the country's most popular sport. The national teams in both the standard 15-man game and rugby sevens are consistently competitive against teams from vastly more populous nations.
The Argentina national rugby sevens team competes in the Sevens World Series, in the Rugby World Cup Sevens, and, beginning in 2016, in the Summer Olympics.
2006–07 IRB Sevens World Series was the eighth of an annual series of rugby sevens tournaments for full national sides run by the International Rugby Board since 1999–2000.
The Tonga national rugby sevens team competes in the IRB World Sevens Series. Tonga has participated in five Rugby World Cup Sevens.
The London Sevens is played annually as part of the IRB Sevens World Series for international rugby sevens. The 2007 competition, which took place on 26 and 27 May, was held at Twickenham and was part of the 2006-07 IRB Sevens World Series.
The Emirates Airlines South Africa Sevens is played annually as part of the IRB Sevens World Series for international rugby sevens. The 2007 competition, which took place on 7 December and 8 December at Outeniqua Park in George, Western Cape, was the second Cup trophy in the 2007-08 IRB Sevens World Series.
The Edinburgh Sevens is played annually as part of the IRB Sevens World Series for international rugby sevens. The 2009 competition, which took place on 30 May and 31 May in Edinburgh, Scotland, was the eighth and final Cup trophy in the 2008-09 IRB Sevens World Series.
Spain's national rugby sevens team is one of 15 core teams participating in all ten tournaments of the World Rugby Sevens Series, having qualified by winning the 2017 Hong Kong Sevens qualifier tournament. Spain participated as a core team in the 2012–13 IRB Sevens World Series, but was relegated the following season.
The 2010 Edinburgh Sevens was a rugby sevens tournament, the eighth and final Cup tournament in the 2009–10 IRB Sevens World Series. The 2010 competition was held at Murrayfield Stadium between 29 May and 30 May.
The 2010–11 IRB Sevens World Series was the 12th annual IRB Sevens World Series of rugby union sevens tournaments for full national sides run by the International Rugby Board since 1999–2000.
The 2011–12 IRB Sevens World Series, known for sponsorship reasons as the HSBC Sevens World Series, was the 13th annual series of the IRB Sevens World Series tournaments for full national sides run by the International Rugby Board since 1999–2000.
The English women's national rugby sevens team has been competing in the Hong Kong Women's Sevens tournaments since 1997. England are also one of six teams announced by the International Rugby Board as "core teams" that will compete in all four rounds of the inaugural IRB Women's Sevens World Series in 2012–13.
The IRB Women's Sevens Challenge Cup was a series of three tournaments run by the International Rugby Board for women's rugby sevens held for the 2011-12 season. England finished as the holders of the Cup and won two of the three tournaments.
Carl Bezuidenhout is a former South African rugby union footballer. He played either as a fly-half or full-back and played professional rugby between 2006 and 2015. He retired in 2015 to take up a teaching post at Union Schools in Graaff-Reinet.
The 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the seventh edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens. Organised by World Rugby, it was held at AT&T Park, now known as Oracle Park, in San Francisco, United States. A total of 84 matches were played over three days from July 20–22, 2018. The men’s tournament had 24 teams and the women’s tournament 16, with both tournaments being played for the first time in a knock-out only format. New Zealand won the championship for both events — defeating England in the men's final and France in the women's final.
