Rugby World Cup Sevens

Rugby World Cup Sevens

Sport	Rugby union sevens
Instituted	1993 (men), 2009 (women)
Number of teams	24 (men), 16 (women)
Holders	New Zealand (men)  New Zealand (women) (2018)

The Rugby World Cup Sevens is the premier stand-alone international rugby sevens competition outside the Olympic Games. The event is contested every four years, with tournaments for men's and women's national teams co-hosted at the same venues. It is organised by World Rugby, the sport's governing body.

The first tournament was held in 1993 in Scotland, the birthplace of rugby sevens. The winners of the men's tournament are awarded the Melrose Cup, named after the Scottish town of Melrose where the first rugby sevens game was played.^[1] The women's tournament was inaugurated at the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens held in Dubai.

In men's Rugby World Cup Sevens, the New Zealand have won the tournament three times, Fiji have won it twice, and England and Wales have won a single tournament each, while Argentina, Australia and South Africa have reached tournament finals but not secured a title.

For women's Rugby World Cup Sevens, Australia won the first tournament in 2009 and New Zealand won the second and third tournaments in 2013 and 2018. New Zealand are the current men's and women's world champions having won both tournaments in 2018.

In May of 2009, the International Rugby Board (now World Rugby) stated that if Olympic rugby sevens were added to the Rio de Janeiro games, their intention was to end the World Cup Sevens.^[2] In 2013, following two weeks of consultation, the board announced that the competition would be retained and integrated into the Olympic calendar, meaning that a meaningful elite level competition would take place every two years from 2016. In common with other Olympic team sports, the World Cup hosts a larger number of teams than the Olympic tournament.^[3] The first competition after Olympic integration took place in 2018, which entailed a one-off five-year gap from the 2013 competition.

The 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament for both men and women's teams was held from Friday 20 July 2018 to Sunday 22 July 2018 in AT&T Park, San Francisco in the United States. Unlike previous Rugby World Cup Sevens tournaments and the annual World Rugby Sevens Series events, in each of the genders, both competitions were played in knock-out only formats.

History

The Rugby World Cup Sevens originated with a proposal by the Scottish Rugby Union to the International Rugby Board. The inaugural tournament was held at Murrayfield in Edinburgh in 1993, and has been held every four years since. Hong Kong, which had played a major role in the international development of the Sevens game, hosted the 1997 event. The final was won by Fiji over South Africa. The 2001 tournament was held in Mar del Plata, Argentina. The 2005 event returned to Hong Kong.

At the 2009 tournament, Wales, Samoa, Argentina and Kenya combined to stun the rugby world by defeating the traditional powerhouses of New Zealand, England, South Africa and Fiji in the quarter-finals, guaranteeing a new Melrose Cup winner. Wales and Argentina met in the final, with Wales triumphing 19–12.

The IRB made a submission to the International Olympic Committee in 2005 for rugby sevens to become an Olympic sport. However, the submission failed because committee members felt IRB needed to improve promotion of the women's game. To that end, the IRB implemented the first women's Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament in 2009.^[4] The 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens was held in Dubai during the first weekend of March 2009 and included a separate women's tournament. Cumulative attendance was 78,000.^[4]

Prior to the inclusion of rugby sevens into the Olympic Games, the IRB stated that their intention would be to end the World Cup Sevens so that the Olympic Games would be the one pinnacle in a four-year cycle for Rugby Sevens.^[2] The adoption of rugby sevens and golf was recommended to the full International Olympic Committee council by its executive board in August 2009.^[5] The International Olympic Committee voted in 2009 for rugby sevens to become a medal sport at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.^[6]

The IRB Council in 2010 awarded the hosting of the 2013 tournament to Moscow, Russia from a field of eight nations that had expressed formal interest in hosting.^[7] The IRB intended that the exposure to rugby from hosting the World Cup Sevens would accelerate the growth of rugby in Russia.^[7]

The IRB had said the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens – featuring 24 men's teams and 16 women's teams – would be the last one. However, following feedback from its member unions, the IRB's general assembly voted for the tournament to continue. The principal concern is that Sevens at the Olympics would accommodate only 12 teams.^[8]

The IRB announced on June 12, 2013 that the Rugby World Cup Sevens would continue after 2013, with the next tournament set for 2018, and for every four years after that.^[9] Following the IRB's announcement, several nations officially announced their intention to bid to host the 2018 tournament – including the United States^[10] and Wales.^[11] On May 13, 2015 it was decided that the United States would host the 2018 edition of the tournament with the two venues being announced when they won the bid.^[12]

Men's tournament

Year	Host	Final				Semi-finalists
		Winner	Score	Runner-up
1993	Edinburgh, Scotland	England	21–17	Australia		Fiji	Ireland
1997	Hong Kong, China	Fiji	24–21	South Africa		New Zealand	Samoa
2001	Mar del Plata, Argentina	New Zealand	31–12	Australia		Argentina	Fiji
2005	Hong Kong	Fiji	29–19	New Zealand		Australia	England
2009	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Wales	19–12	Argentina		Kenya	Samoa
2013	Moscow, Russia	New Zealand	33–0	England		Fiji	Kenya
2018	San Francisco, United States	New Zealand	33–12	England		Fiji	South Africa

Notable players

Player of the Tournament

Year	Champion	Player
1993	England	Lawrence Dallaglio
1997	Fiji	Waisale Serevi[13]
2001	New Zealand	Jonah Lomu
2005	Fiji	Waisale Serevi[13]
2009	Wales	Tal Selley[14]
2013	New Zealand	Tim Mikkelson[15]
2018

The 2001 tournament added another chapter to the legend of New Zealand's Jonah Lomu. Lomu, used sparingly in pool play, received his opportunity when New Zealand captain Eric Rush broke his leg in the last pool match. Lomu went on to score three tries in the final.

In 2005, Waisale Serevi came out of international retirement to captain and lead Fiji to their second Melrose Cup. At the 2009 tournament, Wales defeated Argentina 19–12 in the final, and Wales' Taliesin Selley was named player of the tournament.

Most career tries

Rank	Player	Tries
1	Marika Vunibaka	23
2	Waisale Serevi	19
3	Brian Lima	17
4	Andrew Turnbull	16
5	Roger Randle	14

The top all-time try-scorer for the Rugby World Cup Sevens is Fijian winger Marika Vunibaka, who scored 23 tries in three of the Sevens World Cups he played in from 1997 to 2005. Serevi ranks second with 19 career World Cup Sevens tries, over four tournaments from 1993 to 2005.^[16] Brian Lima ranks third with 17 tries. The top points scorers are Serevi with 297 points, Vunibaka with 115 points, and Lima with 101 points.^[17]

Results by nation

Team	1993	1997	2001	2005	2009	2013	2018	Years
Arabian Gulf					21st			1
Argentina	9th	13th	3rd	5th	2nd	11th	5th	7
Australia	2nd	5th	2nd	3rd	10th	5th	10th	7
Canada	15th	21st	5th	18th	13th	9th	12th	7
Chile			17th				17th	2
Cook Islands		11th	13th					2
Chinese Taipei	21st		21st	21st				3
England	1st	5th	5th	3rd	5th	2nd	2nd	7
Fiji	3rd	1st	3rd	1st	5th	3rd	4th	7
France	15th	5th	21st	5th	13th	5th	8th	7
Georgia			10th	11th	21st	19th		4
Ireland	3rd	19th	19th	13th	18th		9th	6
Italy	17th			17th	21st			3
Hong Kong	17th	10th	21st	21st	19th	21st	18th	7
Jamaica							24th	1
Japan	13th	17th	13th	13th	21st	18th	15th	7
Kenya			19th	19th	3rd	4th	16th	5
South Korea	11th	5th	13th	21st				4
Latvia	21st							1
Morocco		19th						1
Namibia	21st	21st						2
Netherlands	21st							1
New Zealand	7th	3rd	1st	2nd	5th	1st	1st	7
Papua New Guinea							21st	1
Philippines						21st		1
Portugal		21st	18th	10th	11th	13th		5
Romania	17th	13th						2
Russia			9th	11th		17th	14th	4
South Africa	5th	2nd	5th	5th	5th	5th	3rd	7
Samoa	5th	3rd	5th	9th	3rd	10th	13th	7
Scotland	14th	11th		5th	9th	11th	7th	6
Spain	10th	13th	11th			21st		4
Tonga	7th	9th		19th	11th	13th	22nd	6
Tunisia				13th	13th	21st		3
Uganda							19th	1
Uruguay				21st	19th	19th	20th	4
United States	17th	18th	13th	13th	13th	13th	6th	7
Wales	11th	13th	11th		1st	5th	11th	6
Zimbabwe		21st	21st		17th	13th	23rd	5

Women's tournament

Year	Host	Final			Semi-finalists
		Winner	Score	Runner-up
2009	United Arab Emirates	Australia	15–10	New Zealand	United States	South Africa
2013	Moscow, Russia	New Zealand	29–12	Canada	United States	Spain
2018	San Francisco, United States	New Zealand	29–0	France	Australia	United States

Results by nation

Team	2009	2013	2018	Years
Australia	1st	5th	3rd	3
Brazil	10th	13th	13th	2
Canada	6th	2nd	7th	3
China	9th	11th	12th	3
England	5th	6th	9th	3
Fiji		9th	11th	2
France	7th	11th	2nd	3
Ireland		7th	6th	2
Italy	11th			1
Japan	13th	13th	10th	3
Mexico			16th	1
Netherlands	13th	10th		2
New Zealand	2nd	1st	1st	3
Papua New Guinea			15th	1
Russia	11th	7th	8th	3
South Africa	3rd	13th	14th	3
Spain	7th	4th	5th	3
Thailand	13th			1
Tunisia		13th		1
United States	3rd	3rd	4th	3
Uganda	13th			1

See also

• World Rugby Sevens Series
• World Rugby Women's Sevens Series
• Rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics
• Hong Kong Sevens
• Rugby World Cup
• Women's Rugby World Cup

References

External links

• Official website