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 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 Mexico national rugby sevens team participates in competitions such as the World Sevens Series and Rugby World Cup Sevens. Mexico finished in last place in the 2008 USA Sevens and finished sixth in the 2011 Pan American Games and eighth in the 2015 Pan American Games.
The Zimbabwe national rugby sevens team competes in both domestic and international rugby sevens competitions. Zimbabwe competes in World Rugby Sevens Series events such as the South Africa Sevens and Hong Kong Sevens.
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 Japan national rugby sevens team participates in competitions such as the World Rugby Sevens Series and the Rugby World Cup Sevens.
Rugby union in China is a growing sport; however, it is still not overly popular. China became affiliated to the International Rugby Board in 1997 and as of 1 July 2019, its women's XV side was ranked 24th and its men's XV side 80th in the world. Neither the women's team nor the men's team has yet qualified for a Women's Rugby World Cup or a men's Rugby World Cup. However, China has hopes of one day hosting the men's event, and World Rugby has indicated it supports taking the event there.
The German national rugby sevens team competes in the top-level European sevens competition, the Sevens Grand Prix Series. In 2012, Germany finished eleventh out of twelve teams and avoided relegation. The team also unsuccessfully took part in the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying tournament in Moscow in July 2012.
The Ireland national rugby sevens team competes in several international rugby sevens competitions. The team is governed by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU).
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 Asia Rugby Sevens Series is an annual series of regional rugby sevens tournaments run by Asia Rugby featuring national sevens teams. It has been held regularly since 2009 to determine Asia's best men's national team in the sport of rugby sevens.
The World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, 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.
The 2016–17 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series was the fifth edition of the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, an annual series of tournaments organised by World Rugby for women's national teams in rugby sevens.
This is the qualifications of the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens aimed at selecting men's rugby sevens national teams that appeared in the finals in San Francisco. A total of 55 nations took part in the qualifying process.
The 2017 RAN Sevens was the 18th edition of the annual rugby sevens tournament organized by Rugby Americas North. It will be played at Campo Marte in Mexico City.
Twelve teams qualified for men's rugby sevens at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Japan automatically qualified as host, with the top four teams of the 2018–19 World Rugby Sevens Series securing their spots. Afterwards, qualification was determined with each of the six continental confederations determining a representative, and the remaining qualification spot determined through an international sevens tournament.
The 2019 Dubai Sevens was the first tournament within the 2019–20 World Rugby Sevens Series and was the 20th international edition and the 50th overall of the Dubai Sevens since it began in 1970. It was held on 5–7 December 2019 at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The 2022 RAN Sevens Qualifiers are a North American rugby sevens tournament that took place at the Thomas Robinson Stadium, Nassau on 23 and 24 April 2022; they were held in The Bahamas for the third time. The defending champions from the 2021 event are Jamaica.
This was the qualifying process for the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens with the aim of selecting the men's national rugby sevens teams that would compete in the tournament in Cape Town, South Africa. A total of 59 nations took part in the qualifying process.
