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.
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.
Junior Malili "Mils" Muliaina is a former professional rugby union player who most recently played for San Francisco Rush in the US PRO Rugby competition. He played primarily as a fullback, though he has also played as a centre and on the wing.
Sport in New Zealand largely reflects the nation's colonial heritage, with some of the most popular sports being rugby union, rugby league, cricket, association football, basketball, horse racing and netball, which are primarily played in Commonwealth countries. New Zealand has enjoyed success in many sports, notably rugby union, rugby league, cricket, America's Cup sailing, world championship and Olympics events, and motorsport.
The Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) is an international multi-sport event organized by the Commonwealth Games Federation. The games were held in the years, mid-way between when the Commonwealth Games are held, until 2008. They continued to be held every four years, but in the year after the Commonwealth Games are held, from 2011 to 2015. Since 2017, they've been held in the year before the Commonwealth Games are held. The first edition was held in Edinburgh, Scotland from 10–14 August 2000. The age limitation of the athletes is from 14 to 18.
The Fiji national rugby sevens team has competed in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Olympics. Fiji won the gold medal in the inaugural rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics in 2016 in Brazil, the country's first Olympic medal in any event, and repeated as Olympic champions in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, defeating New Zealand. Thus Fiji is the sole nation to have won Olympic gold in the sport. They are the only country in the world to have won the Sevens Treble, the three major achievements in Sevens. They have won multiple World Rugby Sevens Series and Rugby World Cup Sevens.
The rugby sevens at the 2006 Commonwealth Games was the third Commonwealth Games at which rugby sevens was played. It is one of the male-only sports at the Commonwealth Games, the other being boxing. The venue for the rugby competition was the Telstra Dome, on the western edge of Melbourne's Central Business District. Preliminary matches were held on 16 March, with the finals the following day.
Daniel Stuart Care is an English rugby union player who plays for Harlequins in the Premiership as a scrum-half. He has played for England national team since 2008 and has won 89 caps. He previously played for England in several youth age groups as well as England Sevens and England Saxons.
Australia at the 1998 Commonwealth Games was abbreviated AUS. This was their sixteenth of 16 Commonwealth Games having participated in all Games meets up to these Games. The games took place in Kuala Lumpur, between the 11th - 21 September. Australia placed first, winning a total of 198, with 311 competitors.
The Kenya national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Commonwealth Games. They are currently one of the 15 "core teams" of the World Series, with a guaranteed place in all 10 events each season. Kenya recorded its first tournament win in the World Rugby Sevens Series after beating Fiji at the 2016 Singapore Sevens. Kenya has also been successful in the Rugby World Cup Sevens, reaching the semifinals in 2009 and again in 2013.
Ben Ryan is an English sports coach who is best known for coaching the Fiji sevens team to a gold medal in sevens rugby at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He is currently Director of Elite Performance at association football club Brentford.
Sport has a very significant role in South African culture. The three most popular mainstream sports in the country — cricket, soccer and rugby — reflect the country's early British colonial influence. South Africa was absent from international sport for most of the apartheid era due to sanctions, but started competing globally after the end of apartheid. South Africa is among a very few countries which have participated in world cups of all four major sports — cricket, soccer, rugby union and rugby league. England, Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand, and Australia are among other such nations. South Africa has hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup, 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup and 2007 ICC World Twenty20, and 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Rugby sevens at the 2002 Commonwealth Games was the second Commonwealth Games where rugby sevens was played. The gold medal was won by New Zealand who defeated Fiji in the final.
The Fiji women's national rugby sevens team represents Fiji at regional and international sevens tournaments.
Rugby sevens at the 2014 Commonwealth Games was the fifth time in the competition's history that the event took place. The tournament's preliminaries took place on 26 July, with the classification matches, quarterfinals, semifinals and medal matches the following day. The venue for the competition was Ibrox Stadium. South Africa beat the reigning champions New Zealand in the final on 27 July, beating their opponents 17-12. It was the first time that New Zealand had been beaten in any game since the inception of rugby sevens at the Commonwealth Games in 1998, ending their 30 match win streak and marking the first time any other nation had won the competition.
India participated in the 2014 Commonwealth Games at Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom held from 23 July to 3 August 2014.
Kyle Gie Brown is a South African rugby union player, currently playing with the South African Sevens team. He was the captain of the South African Sevens team that won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Scott Curry is a New Zealand rugby union player. He plays for the New Zealand national rugby sevens team. He made his debut at the 2010 Dubai Sevens. He made his debut appearance at the Olympics representing New Zealand at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Canada competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia from 4 April – 15 April 2018. It was Canada's 21st appearance at the Commonwealth Games, having competed at every Games since their inception in 1930.
The men's rugby sevens tournament at the 2018 Commonwealth Games was the sixth time in history that the event has taken place since it started in 1998. The venue for the competition was Robina Stadium.
