OVERVIEW OF SEVENS RUGBY
RUGBY sevens is sanctioned by the IRB, and is played under substantially the same laws and on a field of the same dimensions as the 15-player game. While a normal rugby union match lasts at least 80 minutes, a normal sevens match consists of two halves of seven minutes with a one-minute half-time break. The final of a competition can be played over two halves of ten minutes each, with a half-time break of two minutes. (In the IRB Sevens World Series, only the Cup final, which determines the overall winner of an event, is played with 10-minute halves; all finals for lower-level trophies are played with 7-minute halves. This allows rugby tournaments to be completed in a day or a weekend. However, sevens scores are generally comparable to union scores; scoring occurs with much greater regularity in sevens, since the defenders are more spaced out. Scrums are composed of just three players from each team. Because of the speedy nature of the game, good sevens players are often backs or loose forwards in fifteens rugby.
Rugby sevens was initially conceived by Ned Haig, a butcher from Melrose, Scotland as a fund-raising event for his local club in 1883. The first ever sevens match was played at the Greenyards, where it was well received. The first ever officially sanctioned international tournament occurred at Murrayfield as part of the "Scottish Rugby Union's celebration of rugby" centenary celebrations in 1973. Due to the success of the format, the ongoing Hong Kong Sevens was launched three years later. In 1993, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, in which the Melrose Cup is contested, was launched. Three of the best known sevens competitions are the Hong Kong Sevens, Wellington Sevens, and the Dubai Sevens which now make up parts of the IRB Sevens World Series.
Rugby union has been a men's medal sport at the modern Summer Olympic Games, being played at four of the first seven competitions. The sport debuted at the 1900 Paris games. It subsequently featured at the London games in 1908, the Antwerp games in 1920 and the Paris games in 1924. Shortly after the 1924 games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) cancelled rugby union as an Olympic sport. There were numerous attempts to bring the sport back to the Olympic programme. The most recent was for the inclusion of the sevens version of the sport, which is played at similar competitions such as the Commonwealth Games. This was proposed for the 2016 Summer Olympics, and on Friday 9th October 2009, the IOC announced that Rugby Sevens will be included at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
As a result of the inclusion of Rugby Sevens in the Summer Olympics, the IRB’s Rugby World Cup Sevens will be disbanded to allow for the Olympic Sevens.
RUGBY UNPLUGGED COVERAGE
Along with the IRB World Series, we will be covering the other infamous 7s tournaments worldwide, including the Middlesex 7s, Melrose 7s (the birthplace of Rugby Sevens), the newly launched UK National 7s, the Commonwealth Games 2010 in New Delhi, India, the final Rugby World Cup Sevens in Russia, after which point it is being disbanded in favour of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janiero.
Click on any of the logos below or to your left to delve deeper into the crazy world of Sevens rugby.
THE IRB Sevens World Series is a major fixture around the globe for die-hard rugby fans. Many of the world’s best players representing their country have cut their teeth in the 7s arena before graduating to full international honours at XVs rugby.
VENUES & REPORTS
2010 RESULTS
And below we have the last season's standings of the World Series at the end of 2009-10, where Samoa were crowned Series Champions following the Edinburgh 7s in May 2010.
SUMMER 2011 sees the second year of the National Sevens Series in the UK. 9 of the world's top invitational sevens teams will battle it out for Series honours across 4 of the UK's favourite sevens festival events.
Ultimate Rugby Sevens has been working with the RFU and other stakeholders to create a pioneering property in the new era of Olympic Rugby Sevens that brings direction to a structured Sevens season in the UK.
The Series launched in 2010 and was won by Samurai in a closely-fought contest for 1st place with the British Army. Samurai went on to beat England, Wales and the Premiership clubs to win the 2010 Middlesex Sevens.
The 2011 National Series will take place at the following Sevens festivals:
Manchester 7s, 13th-15th May
Rugby Rocks (London) 4th-5th June
West Country 7s, 16th-19th June
Newquay Surf 7s, 2nd-3rd July
CLICK on the National 7s Series logo to follow the tournament on from it's inception through the first event in south west London and beyond...
PREMIERSHIP Rugby launched The J.P. Morgan Asset Management Premiership Rugby 7s Series in 2010, a new Friday evening summer 7s series, with KO at 7.30pm, which took place in July and August and was broadcast live and exclusively on ESPN.
The innovative tournament involved all 12 Premiership Rugby clubs during the summer.
The clubs were divided into three groups for the tournament, with the winner and runner up of each regional event going through to the final, which took place on Friday 6th August 2010.
The fixtures for 2011 have now been announced and are as follows:
FRIDAY 15 JULY ~ THE REC, BATH
FRIDAY 22 JULY ~ FRANKLINS GARDENS
FRIDAY 29 JULY ~ EDGELEY PARK
FINAL ~ FRIDAY 5 AUGUST ~ TWICKENHAM STOOP
CLICK LOGO FOR 2010 RESULTS & MATCH REPORTS...
2010 WINNERS: 
SARACENS
SATURDAY 9TH JULY 2011 ~ TWICKENHAM
THE Middlesex Sevens at Twickenham stadium in London was first held in 1926. The tournament is a charitable event, now officially called the Middlesex Charity Sevens, with the current beneficiaries being The RFU Charitable Trust and the PRA Benevolent Fund. Middlesex Charity Sevens has raised over £10 million for charities.
The Middlesex Sevens has seen many notable great players take the field including Waisale Serevi, Eric Rush, Lawrence Dallaglio, Henry Paul, Robbie Paul, Clive Woodward, Will Carling, JPR Williams, Prince Alexander Obolensky, David Sole, Va'aiga Tuigamala, Martin Offiah, Ben Gollings, Simon Amor, David Strettle, Josh Lewsey, Andy Ripley and Ollie Phillips amongst others.
Traditionally the Middlesex Sevens has been an invitation tournament with entertainment derived from overseas and qualifying sides challenging the rugby union top teams. In 2005 the tournament became a twelve team competition with Guinness Premiership teams only participating. In 2008 the tournament reverted to sixteen teams. The 2010 event included Aviva Premiership sides, National 7s series winners and invitation sides including The British Army, England's Help for Heroes and Kenya 7s. The 2010 final was played between London Irish who fielded three Armitage brothers and ULR Samurai with a strong international contingent.
CLICK LOGO FOR 2010 RESULTS
CLICK LOGO FOR RESULTS & MATCH REPORTS...
