The World Rugby Men's Sevens Series is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World Sevens Series, the competition was formed to promote an elite-level of international rugby sevens and develop the game into a viable commercial product. The competition has been sponsored by banking group HSBC since 2014.
World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rugby competitions, such as the World Rugby Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, the World Under 20 Championship, and the Pacific Nations Cup.
Rugby sevens 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.
Sport in the United Kingdom plays an important role in British culture and the United Kingdom has played a significant role in the organisation and spread of sporting culture globally. In the infancy of many organised sports, the Home Nations, England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland were heavily involved in setting out the formal rules of many sports, and formed among the earliest separate governing bodies, national teams and domestic league competitions. After 1922, some sports formed separate bodies for Northern Ireland, though many continued to be organised on an all-Ireland basis. for this reason, in many though not all sports, most domestic and international sport is carried on on a Home Nations basis, and England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland are recognised as national entities.
The Rugby Europe International Championships is the European Championship for tier 2 and tier 3 rugby union nations.
The Rugby World Cup is the women's rugby union world championship which is organised by World Rugby. The first Rugby World Cup for women was held in 1991, but it was not until the 1998 tournament that the tournament received official backing from the International Rugby Board ; by 2009, the IRB had retroactively recognized the 1991 and 1994 tournaments and their champions.
Rugby union in France is a popular team sport. Rugby union was first introduced in the early 1870s by British residents, which makes the country one of the few early exponents of the sport. Elite French clubs participate in the professional domestic club league, the Top 14. Clubs also compete in the European knock-out competition, the European Rugby Champions Cup, which replaced the Heineken Cup from 2014 to 2015.
Rugby union in Germany is a minor but growing sport with 124 men's clubs and 5 women's clubs competing in 4 men's and 1 women's national leagues.
The Ireland women's national rugby sevens team participates in international competitions such as the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, the Rugby Europe Women's Sevens and Rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics. Unlike the Ireland women's national rugby union team, the sevens team is a professional team with players contracted to the Irish Rugby Football Union.
Rugby Europe is the administrative body for rugby union in Europe. It was formed in 1999 to promote, develop, organise, and administer the game of rugby in Europe under the authority of World Rugby. However, it is not responsible for the organisation of the Six Nations Championship or the competitions run by European Professional Club Rugby.
The 2017 Rugby Europe Women's Sevens Grand Prix Series was the top level of international women's rugby sevens competitions organised by Rugby Europe during 2017. The series featured two tournaments, one hosted in Malemort and one hosted in Kazan. Russia won both tournaments and finished as overall champions. Ireland finished third in both tournaments and finished as the series runners–up. The series also served as a 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifier and Ireland qualified for the World Cup based on their performances in the series. Sweden and the Netherlands were relegated to the 2018 Trophy series.
The 2016 Rugby Europe Women's Sevens Grand Prix Series was the top level of international women's rugby sevens competitions organised by Rugby Europe during 2016. The series featured two tournaments, one hosted in Kazan and one hosted in Malemort. In preparation for 2016 Summer Olympics, England and Wales were replaced by two Great Britain representative teams, the Lions and the Royals. France won the Kazan tournament while Russia won the Malemort tournament. Russia won the overall championship. Finland and Ukraine were relegated to the 2017 Trophy series.
The 2016 Rugby Europe Women's Sevens Trophy was the second level of international women's rugby sevens competitions organised by Rugby Europe during 2016. The competition featured two tournaments, one hosted in Prague and one hosted in Esztergom. Sweden won both tournaments. Sweden and Poland were promoted to the 2017 Grand Prix series while Norway and Denmark were relegated to the 2017 Conferences.
The Malta women's national rugby sevens team represents Malta in rugby sevens. They currently compete in the Rugby Europe Women's Sevens Conference, which is in the lower division. In 2016, Malta was promoted to the Trophy division for 2017 as runners-up in the Rugby Europe Women's Sevens Conference. They were relegated to the Conference division for 2018 after registering only one win by default against Moldova in 2017. At the 2018 Rugby Europe Women's Sevens Conference they placed seventh overall. Malta also placed seventh in 2019 again.
The 2014 Rugby Europe Women's Sevens – Division A was the second level of international women's rugby sevens competitions organised by Rugby Europe for 2014. The competition featured just one tournament, played in Bergen. Scotland won the tournament, and along with runner-up Ukraine, were promoted to the 2015 Grand Prix series.
The 2015 Rugby Europe Sevens Division A tournament is the second division of Rugby Europe's 2015 sevens season. This edition was hosted by the cities of Esztergom and Gdańsk from 6–21 June, with the winner promoted to the 2016 Grand Prix and the two teams with the fewest points relegated to Conference 1. Teams finishing in the top three also advanced to a repechage tournament for qualification to the final Olympic qualification tournament.
The 2018–19 European Rugby Challenge Cup is the fifth edition of the European Rugby Challenge Cup, an annual second-tier rugby union competition for professional clubs. Including the predecessor competition, the original European Challenge Cup, this is the 23rd edition of European club rugby's second-tier competition. Clubs from five of the nations that participate in the Six Nations Championship, along with club-sides from Romania and Russia, are competing.
Twelve teams qualify for women's rugby sevens at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Japan automatically qualifies as host, with the top four teams of the 2018–19 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series securing their spots. Afterwards, qualification is determined with each of the six continental confederations determining a representative, and the remaining qualification spot determined through an international sevens tournament to be determined.
The 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the eighth edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens organised by World Rugby. The 2022 tournament, comprising 24 men's and 16 women's teams as previously, was played over three days in one venue in September. It took place at the Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa between 9 and 11 September 2022. It was the first ever Rugby World Cup Sevens in Africa. The dates were chosen to take into account in the Commonwealth Games tournament which took place in July the same year.
The 2019 Rugby Europe Women's Sevens Olympic Qualifying Tournament was held on 13–14 July in Kazan at Central Stadium. The champion of the tournament will be eligible to qualify for the European spot in the 2020 Summer Olympics. The two runners-up will be eligible for bids at a 2020 Olympic repechage tournament.
Czech Republic 
Hungary 
Scotland 
Germany 
