Uruguay Sevens

Uruguay Sevens

Seven Punta logo
Sport	Rugby sevens
Founded	1989
No. of teams	16 (2020)
Most recent champion	Japan (2020)

Brazil and Fiji at Punta del Este in 2017.

The Uruguay Sevens, branded as Seven Punta, is an annual international rugby sevens tournament. Currently held in the capital Montevideo, ^[1] it was hosted as the Punta del Este Sevens in the resort city of the same name for three decades from 1989 onwards. ^[2] The tournament retains that history in its branding. ^[1]

The event was formerly part of the IRB Sevens World Series for the inaugural season in 2000. In recent years it has been part of the Sudamérica Sevens Series and the World Sevens Challenger Series.

The tournament is organised by the Old Boys Club, usually in January or February. It attracts the participation of clubs from Uruguay and neighboring countries such as Argentina, as well as selected provincial and national teams.

Internationally, it is the highest profile Uruguayan rugby event, ^[3] and has attracted players of the calibre of Jonah Lomu in the past, ^{[4] [5]} as well as teams like Fiji, Argentina, New Zealand, Samoa and Belgium Barbarians

International sevens

The tournament was first played in 1989 and featured mostly club teams from Uruguay and Argentina in the early years. Its history as an international event grew in the 1990s when many of the best players and teams in the world travelled to Uruguay for the Seven Punta. ^[6]

International 7s and World Series: 1993 to 2001

The inaugural Punta del Este International Sevens tournament in 1993 attracted teams from Australia, France, England and New Zealand, as well as neighbours Argentina and Paraguay, plus Uruguay itself as host. The final was won by New Zealand, defeating Australia in a closely fought match by 26–19. ^[7] Other national teams including Fiji, Tonga and Samoa were added to the field in subsequent years as the tournament grew in status. Punta del Este was included as a stop on the 1999–2000 World Sevens Series but was dropped from the tour after the inaugural season. After one further event in 2001, won by Argentina who defeated New Zealand by 26–21 in the final, ^[8] the international sevens at Punta del Este ceased. ^[9]

Season		Venue	Cup final			Placings		Refs
		Punta del Este	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Plate	Bowl
I – IV	For club & invitational 1989 to 1992 — See § Early years
V	1993	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	All Blacks VII	26–19	Australia	Buenos Aires	Cuyo	[7] [10]
VI	1994	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	Fiji Cavaliers	35–12	New Zealand	Rosario	Cote d'Aquitaine	[11] [12]
VII	1995	Estadio Ginés Cairo Medina  [13]	Argentina	36–19	Aus Barbarians	FIRA  [a]	Tonga	[13] [14] [15]
VIII	1996	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	New Zealand	31–26	France	Buenos Aires	Old Boys	[16]
IX	1997 RWC Qual.	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	France	35–14	Western Samoa	Argentina	Uruguay	[17]
X	1998	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	New Zealand	42–19	Fiji	Western Samoa	?	[18]
XI	1999	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	New Zealand	38–44	Argentina	Western Samoa	n/a	[19]
XII	2000	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	New Zealand	42–19	Fiji	Australia	France	[20]
XIII	2001	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	Argentina VII	26–21	New Zealand VII	Uruguay	[b] Paysandú	[8] [21]

Key:
 Dark blue line indicates a tournament included in the World Rugby Sevens Series.

Select teams events: 2005 and 2012

After the tournament was restarted in 2003 as an event for club teams, some national and invitational sides began to be attracted back to play against the clubs, and occasionally a parallel international tournament was included again at the Punta del Este Sevens. The first was an IRB satellite competition in 2005 which included several national teams. ^[22] In 2012, an all-selection tournament for national and invitational teams was played, with Argentina defeating South Africa's academy to win the final. ^[23]

Season		Venue	Cup final			Placings		Refs
		Punta del Este	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Third	Fourth
XVI	2005 (IRB)	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	Argentina	38–14	[c] Moby Dick	Uruguay	[d] BFL Mercosur	[24] [22] [25]
XXIII	2012	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	[e] Argentina VII	22–5	SA 7s Academy	Uruguay	Chile	[23] [26]

International sevens: 2017 onward

From 2017 to 2019 the Seven Punta was included on the annual Sudamérica Rugby Sevens series, and contested by selected international teams. In 2020 the tournament was part of the World Sevens Challenger Series. It was relocated for the first time to Montevideo but kept the Seven Punta name. ^[1] Japan won the cup final in 2020, defeating host nation Uruguay in extra time. ^[27]

Season		Venue	Cup final			Placings		Refs
		Punta del Este	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Third	Fourth
XXVIII	2017	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	Argentina	22–21	Fiji	Chile	USA Falcons	[28] [29]
XXIX	2018	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	SA 7s Academy	21−5	Chile	France	Uruguay	[30]
XXX	2019	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	Chile	7–5	Argentina VII	Portugal	Germany	[31]
		Montevideo	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Third	Fourth
XXXI	2020	Estadio Charrua   [1]	Japan	5–0 (a.e.t.)	Uruguay	Hong Kong	Chile	[27]

Key:
 Light blue line indicates a tournament included in the Sudamérica Rugby Sevens series.
 Green line indicates a tournament included in the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series.

Club and invitational tournament

Early years: 1989 to 1992

The first four tournaments featured mainly South American club teams although host club Old Boys organised an invitational team known as "Anzacs Old Boys" which won the Cup in 1991 and 1992. ^[6] That team featured notable players from Australia and New Zealand, including John Eales, Jason Little, Eric Rush and Frank Bunce alongside players such as South American representative Gabriel Travaglini. ^{[32] [33]} In 1993 the tournament became the Punta del Este International Sevens and featured selected national teams from around the world.

Season		Venue	Cup final		Refs
		Club & Invitational	Winner	Runner-up
I	1989	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	Old Boys	Banco Nación	[6]
II	1990	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	Los Tilos	Pueyrredón	[6]
III	1991	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	Anzacs Old Boys	Los Tilos	[6]
IV	1992	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	Anzacs Old Boys	Pueyrredón	[6]

Gold Cup: 2003 onwards

PSG (Pucaru) player chases the ball, 7 Punta 2010.

Following a one year hiatus after the international sevens had ended in 2001, the event was restarted in 2003 as a tournament for club teams in a return to roots. ^[6] For the fourteen seasons from 2003 to 2016, the tournament was contested mainly by club teams, but with the occasional national representative selections and sponsored invitational teams  ^[9] entered in the same division. ^[6] Since 2017, club teams have competed in a separate division to international selections.

A Gold Cup is awarded to the champion team. Silver and Bronze Cups were usually awarded to teams winning the lower bracket playoffs, ^[f] although the minor placings in the top bracket were given recognition in 2017.

Season		Venue	Gold Cup			Placings		Refs
	Club	& invitational	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Silver Cup	Bronze Cup
No tournament in 2002
XIV	2003	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	Old Boys	13–7	Old Christians	La Tablada	Pucaru  [es]	[34] [35] [36]
XV	2004	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	Hindú	22–19	La Ballena  [c]	Marista Mendoza	Uruguay	[37] [38] [39]
XVI	2005	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	Alumni	27–14	Hindú	Old Christians	n/a	[40] [41]
XVII	2006	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	Moby Dick	24–5	Jockey de Salta	Old Christians	Pucaru  [es]	[42] [43]
XVIII	2007	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	San Isidro CASI	26–17	Moby Dick	Hindú	San Isidro SIC	[44]
XIX	2008	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	Samoa	25–0	Buenos Aires	Tonga	Jockey de Salta	[45]
XX	2009	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	Samoa	34–14	Argentina	Tonga	Los Tordos	[46] [47]
XXI	2010	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	Buenos Aires	17–12	Samoa	Tonga	Bridgestone VII	[48] [49]
XXII	2011	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	Buenos Aires	19–10	Salta [es]	Córdoba Athletic	Moby Dick	[50]
XXIII	2012	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	[g] Personal VII	19–10	Moby Dick	Buenos Aires	Paysandú Clubs	[23]
XXIV	2013	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	Buenos Aires	39–0	Moby Dick	Uruguay	Jockey de Salta	[51]
XXV	2014	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	SA 7s Academy	19–14	Moby Dick	Uruguay VII	Pucará	[52]
XXVI	2014–15	Punta del Este Polo & Country Club	Moby Dick	15–7	Chile	Uruguay	Pucará	[53]
XXVII	2015–16	Punta del Este Polo & Country Club	Córdoba Athletic	21–5	Moby Dick	Pucará	Liceo Naval	[54] [55]
	Club	& invitational	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Third	Fourth
XXVIII	2017	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	Córdoba Athletic	28–7	La Tablada	Trébol	Carrasco Polo	[56] [57]
XXIX	No club competition in 2018
XXX	2019	Estadio Domingo Burgueño	CURNE  [h]	17–12	Old Boys	La Tablada	Trébol	[31]
	Club –	Seven de Old Boys	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Silver Cup	Bronze Cup
XXXI	2019–20	Estadio Charrua, Montevideo  [1]	Old Boys	15–10	CURNE  [h]	Lobos	?	[58] [59]

Notes

1. Fédération Internationale de Rugby Amateur selection from France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Holland, Morocco, Tunisia. ^[14]
2. Recorded as Paysandú (possibly a regional selection) by Rugby7, ^[21] in other sources as Trébol de Paysandú  [es] . ^[8]
3. La Ballena Moby Dick: a composite team mainly from Argentina, ^[22] under the banner of local Punta bar, Moby Dick. ^[9]
4. BFL Mercosur: a sponsored invitational team of players selected from Argentina and France. ^[22]
5. UAR 7s (Argentina VII)
6. Gold, Silver and Bronze cups are the nominal trophies for many rugby sevens tournaments in South America. These are generally equivalent to the Cup, Plate and Bowl – for first, fifth and ninth place, respectively – as awarded in the traditional sevens tournament with sixteen teams. For an event with a different number of teams or divisions, however, these trophies may awarded differently.
7. Personal VII: an invitational team sponsored by mobile phone company Telecom Personal.
8. A university rugby club based in the city of Resistencia in north-eastern Argentina.

References

1. Arrillaga, Enrique (14 December 2019). "El Seven de Punta del Este y un cambio histórico para el rugby de la región" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 15 December 2019.
2. Signes, Emil (15 June 1995). "Argentina wins Punta del Este Sevens" (PDF). emilito.org. Rugby Magazine. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 December 2018.
3. Bath, p 78
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5. The Development of Rugby in the River Plate Region: Irish Influences - Hugh FitzGerald Ryan, part four, retrieved, 10 December 2009
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7. Annual Report (PDF) (Report) (in Spanish). Unión Argentina de Rugby. 1993. pp. 36–38. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 September 2018.
8. Mamone, Pablo (7 January 2001). "Shadow Argentina take Punta del Este Sevens". ESPN Scrum.
9. Degas, Frankie (27 December 2009). "Rugby in paradise - Seven de Punta del Este". Ultimate Rugby 7s. Archived from the original on 9 November 2013.
10. "Success at sevens". The Canberra Times. 14 January 1993. p. 21. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
11. Annual Report (PDF) (Report) (in Spanish). Unión Argentina de Rugby. 1994. pp. 32–33. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 September 2018.
12. Gutierrez, Jose. "La Historia de un Torneo de Rugby que es más que un Mero Torneo". La Semana Activa (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 25 December 2018.
13. Annual Report (PDF) (Report) (in Spanish). Unión Argentina de Rugby. 1995. pp. 19–20. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 June 2017.
14. Signes, Emil (24 July 2013). "January 7-8, 1995: Atlantis at Punta del Este Sevens (Uruguay)". Emilito. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018.
15. Signes, Emil (10 March 1995). "Argentina win Punta del Este 7s" (PDF). Rugby: 14 15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 December 2018.
16. Signes, Emil (18 March 1996). "Punte del Este 7s NZ Over France in OT". Rugby Magazine: 18. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018.
17. 1997 Punta del Este 7s Rugby 7s.
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23. "Pasó el Seven de Punta". Montevideo Cricket Club (in Spanish). 12 January 2013. Archived from the original on 27 December 2018.
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33. "100 Years: The British Schools Old Boys and Old Girls Club" (in Spanish). 2014. p. 146.
34. Tabeira, Martín (6 January 2003). "En clásico oriental Old Boys se quedó con el Seven". Puntaweb (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 21 November 2004. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
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37. Tabeira, Martín. "Hindú se quedó con el XV Seven de Punta del Este". Puntaweb (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 27 December 2018.
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41. "Los Pumas se quedaron con el seven de Punta del Este" (in Spanish). 10 January 2005. Archived from the original on 27 December 2018.
42. "A los salteños solamente les faltó el final". Clarin (in Spanish). 9 January 2006. Archived from the original on 27 December 2018.
43. "Los que siguen en el Seven uruguayo". ESPN (in Spanish). 8 January 2006. Archived from the original on 27 December 2018.
44. "En el Este, CASI campeón". Super Try (in Spanish). 14 January 2007. Archived from the original on 20 June 2015.
45. "Samoa festejó en el seven de Punta del Este". infobae (in Spanish). 6 January 2008. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018.
46. "Samoa vence a Argentina y conquista Seven a Side de Rugby" (in Spanish). 4 January 2009. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018.
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48. "Buenos Aires festejó en el Seven de Punta del Este". La Nacion (in Spanish). 5 January 2010. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
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50. 2011 Punta del Este 7s Rugby 7s.
51. Matches (in Spanish) 7 Punta. 2013.
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55. "XXVII Seven Punta 2015 Saturday". Old Boys. 27 December 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
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59. "Copa de Plata" (in Spanish). OBC Rugby. 15 December 2019.

Bibliography

• Bath, Richard (ed.) The Complete Book of Rugby (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ISBN   1-86200-013-1)

External links

• (in Spanish) 2019 Seven Punta site
• (in Spanish) 2017 Seven Punta site
• Former official website (in Spanish), archived from the original on 4 April 2013

• Incredible fightback sees Uruguay home on RWC Sevens. 2008.