The World Rugby Men's Sevens Series is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World Sevens Series, the competition was formed to promote an elite-level of international rugby sevens and develop the game into a viable commercial product. The competition has been sponsored by banking group HSBC since 2014.
The Hong Kong Sevens is a rugby sevens tournament held annually in Hong Kong on a weekend in late March or early April. Considered the premier tournament on the World Rugby Sevens Series competition, the Hong Kong Sevens is currently the seventh tournament on the World Series calendar (following the Canada Sevens. The tournament spans three days, beginning on a Friday and concluding on Sunday. The tournament is organised each year by the Hong Kong Rugby Union. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 respectively. The latest Hong Kong Rugby Sevens was held on Friday 31 March, Saturday 1, Sunday 2 April 2023.
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 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 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.
The Russia national rugby sevens team competed in the World Rugby Sevens Series and the Rugby World Cup Sevens. After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, World Rugby and Rugby Europe suspended Russia from international and European continental rugby union competition. In addition, the Rugby Union of Russia was suspended from World Rugby and Rugby Europe.
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 and 2016 in the Oceania Sevens.
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 South Korea national rugby sevens team is a minor national sevens side. They sometimes take part in the Rugby World Cup Sevens, and have competed in the Hong Kong Sevens since the 1980s.
The Bahrain national rugby sevens team is a minor sevens side. They have competed in the Hong Kong Sevens. They are traditionally seen as "minnows". For example, in the 1989 Hong Kong Sevens, they lost 52-0 to New Zealand and 24-4 to the Netherlands.
Rugby union in Tunisia is a significant sport. They are currently ranked 39th in the world, with 15830 registered players, and 72 clubs.
The Hong Kong Women's Sevens held the first women's international rugby sevens tournament in 1997, and has since become an annual event. The 2020 edition marked the start of a new era for the Hong Kong Women's Sevens. For the first time, the tournament will be an official event in the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series. The 2020 and 2021 tournaments were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The English women's national rugby sevens team has competed in the Hong Kong Women's Sevens tournaments since 1997. England are also one of six teams announced by the International Rugby Board as "core teams" that will compete in all four rounds of the inaugural IRB Women's Sevens World Series in 2012–13. England won the bronze medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Tunisia competed at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics, in Nanjing, China from 16 August to 28 August 2014.
The 2017 Africa Cup Sevens is a rugby sevens tournament held in Kampala, Uganda on 6–7 October 2017. It will be the 5th championship in a series that began in 2013.
The 2019 Hong Kong Sevens was a rugby sevens tournament that took place at the Hong Kong Stadium between the 5–7 April 2019. It was the 44th edition of the Hong Kong Sevens, and the seventh tournament of the 2018–19 World Rugby Sevens Series. Sixteen teams competed in the main tournament, while a further twelve competed in a qualifier tournament with the winner getting core team status for the 2019–20 World Rugby Sevens Series.
Colleen Jenny Tjosvold is a Hong Kong rugby union and sevens player. She was named in Hong Kong's historic 2017 Rugby World Cup squad. It was their first appearance at a World Cup.
This is the qualifying process for the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens with the aim of selecting the women's national rugby sevens teams that will compete in the tournament in Cape Town, South Africa. A total of 47 nations took part in the qualifying process.
