Sevens then ended in England and it would be a long wait for any English Sevens tournaments to arrive. [50] There were two open spots for sports and initially seven sports began the bidding for inclusion in the 2016 program. The numbers shown here are for illustrative purposes only. Australia claimed the gold medal for the event, beating New Zealand in the final with a score of 24-17. The United States won the Hong Kong Sevens in 2008 by defeating Canada in the final (New Zealand failed to send a team). World Rugby chief executive Mike Miller endorsed the concept of a combined British sevens team in 2011 for the 2016 Olympics and beyond. The New Zealand teams won the gold medal in both the men's and women's competitions. The World Series has been held every season since the 1999–2000 inaugural season. WR, then known as the International Rugby Board (IRB), organised its first official women's sevens tournament outside of the World Cup as part of the 2011 Dubai Sevens. We are no longer accepting comments on this article.

The RFU insisted last night that the expected loss of revenue had already been factored into their business plan for next year, but as it does not start until July, the deficit is then likely to impact this year’s accounts. Tue 4 Aug 2020 14.10 BST Other tournaments were played over the next few years across the North before being replaced by a nine-a-side game. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group. (CNN)England's men's and women's rugby sevens teams face being axed as a means cost cutting as the nation's governing body looks to set to miss revenue targets ahead of the 2019-20 season. Rugby sevens is played at various regional multi-sport competitions, including the Asian Games and the Pacific Games. The RFU is now waiting to learn if UK Sport will allocate funding to a GB Team for next year’s rescheduled Tokyo Olympics, leaving the players scrambling for alternative employment for the next five months and fearing for their livelihoods. Their pleas went in vain. The RFU have approached UK Sport about funding sevens ahead of next summer’s Games in Tokyo and conversations between the two bodies are ‘ongoing’. The Hong Kong Sevens tournament has been especially important in popularising the game in Asia, and rugby sevens has been important as a form of international rugby "evangelism"; hence it is perhaps the most widely played form of the game, with tournaments in places as far apart as Bogota and Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Kenya, Singapore and Scandinavia, as well as the countries in which rugby union is well known.[7]. [21] The tournament was intended as a fundraiser for King Edward VII Hospital. Here he picks out five of Fiji’s most memorable wins. [26] The popularity of Sevens exploded in the 1920s and 1930s. [45] Top club sides and international sides frequently enter the Sevens tournaments in Scotland; the Melrose Sevens, as the founding event of the sport, being the most prestigious.[46]. Rugby sevens is administered by World Rugby, the body responsible for rugby union worldwide. Sevens tournaments gained their "popularity as an end of season diversion from the dourer and sterner stuff that provides the bulk of a normal season's watching. the Hong Kong Sevens were ahead of their time and an influential force in the modernisation of rugby union. Secure Trading’s name was still emblazoned across the England Sevens players’ shirt at last weekend’s London Sevens and will likely to be again for the World Series event in Paris this Saturday but the decision not to remove it is thought to be only for ‘practicality’ reasons. For the 2014–15 series, China dropped from the schedule, while Canada and England hosted new events. “We were planning to end the deal at the end of this season and have already built that into our financial planning. We would like to use Analytics cookies provided by Google to help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on how you use it. [48] The 2015 London Sevens, saw the United States win their first-ever tournament in the World Series.[49]. UK Sport are reluctant to step in and fill the funding breach of rugby sevens despite the RFU pulling the plug. Notable World Series players include England's Dan Norton, who has scored more tries (>230) than any other player; and England's Ben Gollings, who has scored more points (2,652) than any other player.

You need to be a subscriber to join the conversation. It has also been played in regional events such as the Pan American Games and the Asian Games, and in 2018 a women's tournament was played for the first time at the Commonwealth Games.