Sevens Rugby World Cup

The Sevens Rugby World Cup ( English Rugby World Cup Sevens ) is the most important sporting competition in sevens rugby , an Olympic version of Rugby Union . The competition was first held in Scotland in 1993 and has been held every four years since then. The trophy, named Melrose Cup - named after the Scottish town of Melrose , where rugby sevens was invented - is currently owned by New Zealand .

history

The introduction of the Sevens Rugby World Cup by the World Rugby Association (WR) goes back to a proposal by the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU). The first tournament took place in April 1993 at the Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh .

Hong Kong , which played an important role in rugby sevens as the host of the Hong Kong Sevens, hosted the second World Cup in 1997. Fiji's win over South Africa in the final is still considered one of the best sevens rugby games of all time. The Fijians had announced in advance that they would win the title, and team captain Waisale Serevi had promised his daughters the same.

In 2001, in Mar del Plata , Argentina , New Zealand became the third rugby world champion in sevens. Hardly used in the preliminary round, Jonah Lomu got his chance after New Zealand captain, rugby legend Eric Rush , broke a leg in the final group game against England . Lomu added another chapter to his dazzling career when he made three attempts in the final against Australia .

In 2005 Hong Kong was again the host. Waisale Serevi, who had actually resigned two years earlier, returned once more and led Fiji as captain to a second title win. In the tournament, the Fijians prevented the New Zealanders from defending their title and prevented England from becoming world champions in 15 and 7 rugby in the same year.

In 2009 the fifth World Cup took place in Dubai , which caused a few surprises. The four favorite teams from New Zealand, England, South Africa and Fiji were eliminated in the quarterfinals. Ultimately, Wales and Argentina met in the final. In the preliminary round, the South Americans had won this duel, but Wales won the final 19:12. For the first time, a women's World Cup also took place at the same time. Australia became the first world champion with a 15:10 final victory over New Zealand.

Tournaments

Men

Event	host		final
			World Champion	Result	Vice world champion
1993	Scotland		England	21:17	Australia
1997	Hong Kong		Fiji	24:21	South Africa
2001	Argentina		New Zealand	31:12	Australia
2005	Hong Kong		Fiji	29:19	New Zealand
2009	United Arab Emirates		Wales	19:12	Argentina
2013	Moscow		New Zealand	33: 0	England
2018	United States		New Zealand	33:12	England

Women

Event	host		final
			World Champion	Result	Vice world champion
2009	United Arab Emirates		Australia	15:10	New Zealand
2013	Moscow		New Zealand	29:12	Canada
2018	United States		New Zealand	29: 0	France

See also

• List of major rugby union competitions
• Rugby Union World Cup
• World Rugby Sevens Series

Web links

• Page of the current Sevens Rugby World Cup (organized by World Rugby , English)