Current season or competition: 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens | |
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| Sport | Rugby union |
|---|---|
| Inaugural season | 1993 (men) 2009 (women) |
| Number of teams | 24 (men) 16 (women) |
| Holders |  Fiji (men)(2022) Australia (women) (2022) |
| Most titles |  New Zealand Fiji (men)(3 titles) New Zealand Australia (women)(2 titles) |
| Website | rwcsevens.com |
Rugby World Cup Sevens (RWCS) was the former quadrennialworld championship ofrugby sevens, a variant ofrugby union. Organised byWorld Rugby, it consisted of men's and women's tournaments, and was the highest level of competition in the sport outside of theSummer Olympics.
The first tournament was held in 1993 inScotland, and was won byEngland. The winners of the men's tournament were awarded theMelrose Cup, named after the Scottish town ofMelrose where the first rugby sevens game was played.[1] A women's tournament was introduced at the2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens inDubai, and was first won byAustralia.
After the2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens, the tournament took an extended, five-year hiatus to allow the integration ofrugby sevens at the Summer Olympics into the competitive calendar. The2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens was held atCape Town Stadium, inCape Town, South Africa, with Fiji winning the men's tournament and Australia winning the women's tournament.
In January 2025, it was reported thatWorld Rugby will not schedule future Rugby World Cup Sevens, instead crowning the winners of theSVNS tournament series as world champion.[2]
The Rugby World Cup Sevens originated with a proposal by theScottish Rugby Union to theInternational Rugby Board.[citation needed] The inaugural tournament was held atMurrayfield in Edinburgh in 1993, and has been held every four years since. England won the inaugural tournament, defeating Australia 21–17 in the final.
Hong Kong, which had played a major role in the international development of the Sevens game, hosted the1997 event. The final was won by Fiji over South Africa. The2001 tournament was held inMar del Plata, Argentina. The2005 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 theInternational 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.[citation needed] To that end, the IRB implemented the first women's Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament in 2009.[3]The2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens was held inDubai during the first weekend of March 2009 and included a separate women's tournament. Cumulative attendance was 78,000.[3]
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.[4]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 event at the2016 Summer Olympics inRio de Janeiro.[6]
The IRB Council in 2010 awarded the hosting of the 2013 tournament toMoscow, 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 ofrugby in Russia.[7] It featured 24 men's teams and 16 women's teams.[8][9]
The IRB originally intended to discontinue Rugby World Cup Sevens after the 2013 edition, in favour of the Olympic tournament. However, it was later decided in2013 that the tournament would continue to be held, as it can accommodate a larger field than the Olympic rugby sevens tournaments, and would allow an elite-level competition to take place biennially from 2016.[8][9] The next tournament would be held in 2018, one year later than usual, in order to accommodate the integration of the Olympics into the competitive calendar.[8][9] On 13 May 2015, it was announced that the United States would host the2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens.[10]
| Year | Total Attendance | Average Daily Attendance |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 | – | – |
| 1997 | – | – |
| 2001 | – | – |
| 2005 | 120,000[11] | 40,000 |
| 2009 | 78,000[12] | 26,000 |
| 2013 | – | – |
| 2018 | 100,000[13] | 33,333 |
| 2022 | 105,000[14] | 35,000 |
| Ed. | Year | Host | First place game | Losing semifinalists | Num. teams | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Champion | Score |  Runner-up | ||||||
| 1 | 1993 |  Edinburgh |  England | 21–17 | Australia | Fiji |  Ireland | 24 |
| 2 | 1997 |  Hong Kong | Fiji | 24–21 |  South Africa | New Zealand |  Samoa | 24 |
| 3 | 2001 |  Mar del Plata | New Zealand | 31–12 | Australia | Fiji | Argentina | 24 |
| 4 | 2005 |  Hong Kong | Fiji | 29–19 | New Zealand | Australia | England | 24 |
| 5 | 2009 |  Dubai |  Wales | 19–12 | Argentina | Samoa |  Kenya | 24 |
| 6 | 2013 |  Moscow | New Zealand | 33–0 | England | Fiji | Kenya | 24 |
| 7 | 2018 |  San Francisco | New Zealand | 33–12 | England | South Africa | Fiji | 24 |
| 8 | 2022 | Cape Town | Fiji | 29–12 | New Zealand | Ireland | Australia | 24 |
The 2001 tournament added another chapter to the legend of New Zealand'sJonah Lomu. Lomu, used sparingly in pool play, received his opportunity when New Zealand captainEric 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.
The top all-time try-scorer for the Rugby World Cup Sevens is Fijian wingerMarika 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.[19] 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.[20]
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Up to date as of 12 September 2022
| Team |  1993 |  1997 |  2001 |  2005 |  2009 |  2013 |  2018 |  2022 | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Arabian Gulf | 21st | 1 | |||||||
| Argentina | 9th | 13th | 3rd | 5th | 2nd | 11th | 5th | 5th | 8 |
 Australia | 2nd | 5th | 2nd | 3rd | 10th | 5th | 10th | 4th | 8 |
 Canada | 15th | 21st | 5th | 18th | 13th | 9th | 12th | 13th | 8 |
 Chile | 17th | 17th | 14th | 3 | |||||
 Cook Islands | 11th | 13th | 2 | ||||||
 Chinese Taipei | 21st | 21st | 21st | 3 | |||||
 England | 1st | 5th | 5th | 3rd | 5th | 2nd | 2nd | 9th | 8 |
 Fiji | 3rd | 1st | 3rd | 1st | 5th | 3rd | 4th | 1st | 8 |
 France | 15th | 5th | 21st | 5th | 13th | 5th | 8th | 6th | 8 |
 Georgia | 10th | 11th | 21st | 19th | 4 | ||||
 Germany | 18th | 1 | |||||||
 Ireland | 3rd | 19th | 19th | 13th | 18th | 9th | 3rd | 7 | |
 Italy | 17th | 17th | 21st | 3 | |||||
| Hong Kong | 17th | 10th | 21st | 21st | 19th | 21st | 18th | 19th | 8 |
 Jamaica | 24th | 24th | 2 | ||||||
 Japan | 13th | 17th | 13th | 13th | 21st | 18th | 15th | 7 | |
 Kenya | 19th | 19th | 3rd | 4th | 16th | 12th | 6 | ||
 South Korea | 11th | 5th | 13th | 21st | 21st | 5 | |||
 Latvia | 21st | 1 | |||||||
 Morocco | 19th | 1 | |||||||
 Namibia | 21st | 21st | 2 | ||||||
 Netherlands | 21st | 1 | |||||||
 New Zealand | 7th | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 5th | 1st | 1st | 2nd | 8 |
 Papua New Guinea | 21st | 1 | |||||||
 Philippines | 21st | 1 | |||||||
 Portugal | 21st | 18th | 10th | 11th | 13th | 22nd | 6 | ||
 Romania | 17th | 13th | 2 | ||||||
| Russia | 9th | 11th | 17th | 14th | 4 | ||||
| South Africa | 5th | 2nd | 5th | 5th | 5th | 5th | 3rd | 7th | 8 |
 Samoa | 5th | 3rd | 5th | 9th | 3rd | 10th | 13th | 8th | 8 |
| Scotland | 14th | 11th | 5th | 9th | 11th | 7th | 16th | 7 | |
 Spain | 10th | 13th | 11th | 21st | 4 | ||||
 Tonga | 7th | 9th | 19th | 11th | 13th | 22nd | 20th | 7 | |
 Tunisia | 13th | 13th | 21st | 3 | |||||
 Uganda | 19th | 17th | 2 | ||||||
 Uruguay | 21st | 19th | 19th | 20th | 10th | 5 | |||
| United States | 17th | 18th | 13th | 13th | 13th | 13th | 6th | 11th | 8 |
 Wales | 11th | 13th | 11th | 1st | 5th | 11th | 15th | 7 | |
 Zimbabwe | 21st | 21st | 17th | 13th | 23rd | 23rd | 6 |
| Ed. | Year | Host | First place game | Losing semifinalists | Num. teams | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champion | Score | Runner-up | ||||||
| 1 | 2009 | Australia | 15–10 | New Zealand | United States | South Africa | 16 | |
| 2 | 2013 | New Zealand | 29–12 |  Canada | United States |  Spain | 16 | |
| 3 | 2018 | New Zealand | 29–0 |  France | Australia | United States | 16 | |
| 4 | 2022 | Australia | 24–22 | New Zealand | France | United States | 16 | |
| Team | 2009 | 2013 | 2018 | 2022 | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 1st | 5th | 3rd | 1st | 4 |
 Brazil | 10th | 13th | 13th | 11th | 4 |
| Canada | 6th | 2nd | 7th | 6th | 4 |
 China | 9th | 11th | 12th | 13th | 4 |
 Colombia | 16th | 1 | |||
| England | 5th | 6th | 9th | 8th | 4 |
| Fiji | 9th | 11th | 5th | 3 | |
| France | 7th | 11th | 2nd | 3rd | 4 |
| Ireland | 7th | 6th | 7th | 3 | |
| Italy | 11th | 1 | |||
| Japan | 13th | 13th | 10th | 9th | 4 |
 Madagascar | 15th | 1 | |||
 Mexico | 16th | 1 | |||
| Netherlands | 13th | 10th | 2 | ||
| New Zealand | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 2nd | 4 |
| Papua New Guinea | 15th | 1 | |||
 Poland | 10th | 1 | |||
| Russia | 11th | 7th | 8th | 3 | |
| South Africa | 4th | 13th | 14th | 14th | 4 |
| Spain | 7th | 4th | 5th | 12th | 4 |
 Thailand | 13th | 1 | |||
| Tunisia | 13th | 1 | |||
| United States | 3rd | 3rd | 4th | 4th | 4 |
| Uganda | 13th | 1 |
