The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches while Australia hosted 11 matches. The tournament was won by New Zealand, who were the strong favourites and won all their matches comfortably. New Zealand defeated France 29–9 in the final at Eden Park in Auckland. The New Zealand team was captained by David Kirk and included such rugby greats as Sean Fitzpatrick, John Kirwan, Grant Fox and Michael Jones. Wales finished third, and Australia fourth, after conceding crucial tries in the dying seconds of both their semi-final against France and the third-place play-off against Wales.
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.
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 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Africa at a meeting in Dublin on 17 November 2005. The tournament was won by New Zealand, who defeated France 8–7 in the final. The defending champions, South Africa, were eliminated by Australia 11–9 in the quarter-finals. The result marked the third time that the tournament was won by the country that hosted the event.
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. Fiji would fall short from winning gold for a third straight time in 2024 after a defeat in the final to hosts France. Overall, Fiji are the only national rugby sevens team 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 Wales national rugby sevens team did compete at the annual World Rugby Sevens Series between 2000 and 2022, however merged with England and Scotland to form the Great Britain sevens team from the 2022–23 season onward. The team also competes at the quadrennial Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Commonwealth Games.
Daniel Stuart Care is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a scrum-half for Premiership Rugby club Harlequins and the England national team.
The 2002 Women's Rugby World Cup was the second World Cup fully sanctioned by the sports governing body the International Rugby Board (IRB). The tournament was held in Barcelona, Spain. The format was the same as the previous tournament and again 16 nations competed.
The Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament held every four years and contested by the men's national teams of the member unions of World Rugby. The Wales national rugby union team has participated in all ten Rugby World Cup tournaments. Up to and including 2015, hosting of the tournament alternated between traditional rugby heartlands in the southern hemisphere and those in Europe. Wales was the primary host in 1999, with Cardiff's Millennium Stadium built to coincide with the event, and the other three tournaments played in Europe have also used venues in Wales to some degree. Cardiff's Millennium Stadium and its predecessor, the Cardiff Arms Park, will have hosted a total 21 matches over a total of four World Cups. This is the largest number of World Cup games hosted by one venue.
The Ireland national rugby union team have played in all ten Rugby World Cup tournaments. They have reached the quarter-finals at all but two tournaments, but have yet to progress to the semi-finals. They have finished top of their pool on three occasions.
The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the New Zealand Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup Limited. The pre-event favourites were England, regarded by many at the time as the best team in the world. New Zealand, France, South Africa and defending champions Australia were also expected to make strong showings, with New Zealand being second favourites after victory in the southern-hemisphere Tri-Nations championship.
Sport in Oceania varies from country to country. The most popular playing sport for men in Australia is Australian rules football, while for women is netball. Australian rules football is the most popular sport in terms of spectatorship and television ratings. Rugby union is the most popular sport among New Zealanders, while in Papua New Guinea rugby league is the most popular. Cricket is another popular sport throughout the Oceania region.
France women's national rugby sevens team represents France in the Rugby Europe Women's Sevens, World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Summer Olympic Games. They are currently the 2023 European Champions; they were also champions in 2007 and 2015. France has competed in the Summer Olympics since its debut at the 2016 Rio Olympics and were silver medalists at the 2020 Games.
Rugby sevens at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, also known as Glasgow2014 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.
Scott Curry is a New Zealand professional rugby union player who plays as a forward for the New Zealand national sevens team.
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.
The men's tournament in the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens was held at AT&T Park in San Francisco. New Zealand won the tournament and took home the Melrose Cup by defeating England 33–12 in the final; South Africa won the bronze by defeating Fiji 24–19. The tournament was dominated by the World Series core teams, which accounted for all eight of the teams that reached the quarterfinals. Ireland was the highest placed non core team in ninth, notching wins against core teams Kenya, Wales, and Australia.
The 2001 Cardiff Sevens was a rugby sevens tournament that took place at the Rodney Parade with the finals being held at the Millennium Stadium. It took place between 2–3 June 2001 and was the first edition of the Cardiff Sevens and the final round of the 2000–01 World Sevens Series.
The 2001 South Africa Sevens was a rugby sevens tournament held at the Absa Stadium in Durban. The tournament took place from 17–18 November 2001 and was the third edition of the South Africa Sevens and was also the first leg of the 2001–02 World Sevens Series.
The men's tournament for the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens was held in Cape Town, South Africa from 9 to 11 September at the Cape Town Stadium.
Australia
New Zealand 
England 
Fiji 
Wales 
South Africa 
Kenya 
Tonga 
