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.
The England men's national rugby union team represents the Rugby Football Union in men's international rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. England have won the championship on 29 occasions, winning the Grand Slam 14 times and the Triple Crown 26 times, making them the most successful outright winners in the tournament's history. They are currently the only team from the Northern Hemisphere to win the Rugby World Cup, having won the tournament in 2003, and have been runners-up on three further occasions.
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.
Rugby World Cup Sevens (RWCS) is the quadrennial world championship of rugby sevens, a variant of rugby union. Organised by World Rugby, it currently consists of men's and women's tournaments, and is the highest level of competition in the sport outside of the Summer Olympics.
The England national rugby sevens team competes in the Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Commonwealth Games. They have once won the Rugby World Cup Sevens — the inaugural tournament in 1993. Historically the team also competed in the World Rugby Sevens Series finishing in second place four times, most recently in the 2016-17 season. The team has been replaced by a combined Great Britain team in this competition.
The Australia national rugby sevens team participates in international competitions such as the World Rugby Sevens Series and Rugby World Cup Sevens. The current captain of the team is Nick Malouf, and the head coach is John Manenti.
The Samoa national rugby sevens team, referred to as Samoa Sevens or Manu Samoa 7s, competes in the annual World Rugby Sevens Series. Representing the polynesian country of Samoa, with a population of about 202,000, the team competes against some of the wealthiest countries in the world. The Samoa sevens team is overseen by the Samoa Rugby Football Union, which oversees all of rugby union in Samoa.
The Tonga national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series. Tonga has participated in all but one of the Rugby World Cup Sevens tournaments.
The World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year is awarded by World Rugby each year. It was first awarded in 2004. The award is based in large part on the player’s performance over the course of the World Rugby Sevens Series, along with other Sevens tournaments during the year.
The England women's national rugby union team, commonly known as the Red Roses, represents England in women's international rugby union. They compete in the annual Women's Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. England have won the championship on a total of 20 out of 29 occasions – winning the Grand Slam 18 times and the Triple Crown 24 times – making them the most successful side in the tournament's history, helped by their status as the only fully professional women's team in 2019. They won the Women's Rugby World Cup in 1994 and 2014, and have been runners-up on six other occasions. Their current permanent head coach, as of October 2023, is John Mitchell.
The Papua New Guinea national rugby sevens team competes in the Pacific Games, Commonwealth Games, Challenger Series and the Oceania Sevens. They finished third in 2009 and fourth in 2010, 2015, 2016 and 2023 in the Oceania Sevens. They missed out on a maiden Olympic spot after being defeated by Samoa 24-0 in the 2023 Oceania 7s Olympic Playoff.
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 Philippines national rugby sevens team is a minor national sevens side. The 2012 Hong Kong Sevens was their first appearance in an IRB Sevens World Series. They were 1 of 4 Asian teams that qualified through regional tournaments to be included in the 2012 Hong Kong Sevens, it is also a qualifying tournament for inclusion in the 2012–13 IRB Sevens World Series. After the Philippines won third place against South Korea in the 2012 Singapore Sevens Series, they gained qualification to the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow. The Philippines finished third at the 2018 Asia Rugby Sevens Series, and qualified to the 2019 Hong Kong Sevens World Series qualifier. At the tournament, the team defeated Zimbabwe and advanced to quarter-finals, where they lost to Asian rival Hong Kong.
The United States women's national rugby sevens team competes in international rugby sevens competitions. The team finished second at the 2015 USA Women's Sevens, after defeating Russia in the semifinals. They competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
The Netherlands women's national rugby sevens team participated in the IRB Women's Sevens Challenge Cup in Hong Kong losing to Spain in the Plate semi-finals, they finished 8th overall. In October 2012, the Netherlands was announced by the International Rugby Board as one of six "core teams" that will compete in all four rounds of the inaugural IRB Women's Sevens World Series in 2012–13. The team finished seventh in the standings. It was later decided that the quarter-finalists at the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens would make up the eight core teams for the next series later that year.
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.
The World Rugby SVNS, known as the HSBC SVNS for sponsorship reasons, is a series of international rugby sevens tournaments for women's national teams run by World Rugby. The inaugural series was held in 2012–13 as the successor to the IRB Women's Sevens Challenge Cup held the previous season. The competition has been sponsored by banking group HSBC since 2015.
Saracens Women (/ˈsærəsənz/) are an English women's rugby union club based in Hendon, London. They were established in 1989 and currently play in Premiership Women's Rugby, the top-level competition of women's rugby in the country.
Alexandra George Matthews is an English rugby union player. She made her debut for England in 2011 and was a member of the winning 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup squad.
