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 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.
Rugby sevens was played at the Olympics for the first time at the 2016 Summer Olympics, with both men's and women's contests. It was added to the Olympics following the decision of the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen in October 2009. The champions for the inaugural rugby sevens tournament in 2016 were Fiji for the men and Australia for the women. Prior to 2016, 15-a-side matches were played in 1900, 1908, 1920, and 1924.
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 Papua New Guinea women's national rugby sevens team represents Papua New Guinea in international women's rugby sevens tournaments. They are regular participants at the Oceania Women's Sevens Championship and Pacific Games.
Kenya women's national rugby sevens team plays in several tournaments including the African Women's Sevens Championship, Dubai Invitational Sevens and the Hong Kong Women's Sevens.
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.
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 sevens at the 2016 Summer Olympics was held over six days in August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. The 2016 Olympics was the debut for rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics, though rugby union was last played at the 1924 games.
Spain, represented by the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE), competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Since the nation's official debut in 1920, Spanish athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games except for two; the 1936 Summer Olympics in Nazi Germany, and the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, as a protest against the Soviet invasion of Hungary. The Spanish Olympic Committee sent a total of 306 athletes, 163 men and 143 women, to compete in 25 sports.
The Mexico women's national rugby union sevens team are a national sporting side that represents Mexico in Rugby sevens.
The women's rugby sevens tournament at the 2016 Summer Olympics was held in Brazil, hosted at the Deodoro Stadium, a temporary outdoor stadium constructed as part of the Deodoro Modern Pentathlon Park in Rio de Janeiro. The tournament was held from 6 August to 8 August 2016, starting with group matches before finishing with the medal ceremony on 8 August.
The Great Britain national rugby sevens team is the women's Olympic representative team of Great Britain at the rugby sevens tournament at the Summer Olympic Games. The team played their first competitive match at the 2016 Summer Olympics after England finished in an Olympic qualifying place at the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series.
The Colombia women's national rugby sevens team participates at several international tournaments. Colombia qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Their biggest achievement is the bronze medal won at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games.
Ghislaine Landry is a Canadian rugby union player. She won a gold medal at the 2015 Pan American Games as a member of the Canadian women's rugby sevens team. During the 2016-17 season, Landry succeeded Jen Kish as captain of the national sevens. On 20 October 2018, Landry became the first woman to hit the 1,000 point milestone in the women's sevens World Series.
Elisabet Martínez is a Spanish rugby sevens player. She is a member of Spain's women's national rugby sevens team to the 2016 Summer Olympics. She captained her squad at the last Olympic qualification tournament for Rio 2016 when they defeated Russia 19-12 in the finals.
Viniana Naisaluwaki Riwai is a Fijian footballer, who plays as a midfielder for Rewa FC and the Fiji women's national team, and a rugby sevens player, who plays for the Fiji women's national 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.
