USA Sevens

The United States plays Canada early in the 2012 USA Sevens tournament

The USA Sevens is an annual rugby sevens tournament held in the United States. A part of the IRB Sevens World Series, it takes place during the second weekend of February. While the Sevens World Series has been held since 1999-2000, the USA Sevens was introduced in 2004, as part of the 2003-04 series.

The tournament originally was held in The Home Depot Center in Carson, California. From 2007 to 2009, the event was held at Petco Park in San Diego. The USA Sevens has been held at its current home, Sam Boyd Stadium in the Las Vegas suburb of Whitney, Nevada, every February since 2010.

The HSBC Sevens World Series is played throughout the world at eight other venues: Australia, Dubai, South Africa, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan, London and Scotland.

Format

Sixteen countries participate in 44 matches over two to three days. The sixteen participating teams are the 12 "core" members of the IRB Sevens World Series circuit, along with 4 additional qualifying teams—other teams that have qualified multiple times during the 2009-2012 span include Japan, Canada, Uruguay and Guyana. Seeding of the sixteen teams is determined by finishes in the previous competition in the Sevens World Series.

The format is four pools of four teams. Wins are three points, draws two, and losses one. The group winners and second-placed teams progress to the quarterfinals to compete for the Cup (places 1-4) and Plate (places 5-8). The third and fourth-placed teams progress to the Bowl (places 9-12) and Shield (places 13-16) competitions.

Popularity and Growth

The USA Sevens is the largest annual rugby competition in North America. The tournament has grown in popularity since the tournament began in 2004. In recent years, a number of events have accelerated the surge in popularity, including the announcement in 2009 that rugby would return to the Summer Olympics, the general growth of rugby in the country, the improved performance of the US national rugby team including their success in reaching the semi-finals of the 2009 USA Sevens, and NBC's decision to begin televising the tournament beginning in 2011.

Attendance

Tournament attendance has grown rapidly since its inception in 2004. The tournament drew 15,800 fans in 2004, 25,000 fans in 2007, 37,000 fans in 2009, 52,000 fans in 2011, and over 64,000 fans in 2012.

Media coverage

The profile and visibility of the USA Sevens has increased since NBC began broadcasting the tournament. The 2011 USA Sevens tournament marked the first time that the tournament has had live television coverage on network TV in the United States. NBC Sports and Universal Sports broadcast eight hours of live coverage of the tournament the weekend of February 12–13, 2011, including 4 hours of coverage on NBC. Following the success of the 2011 tournament, NBC increased its television coverage for the 2012 USA Sevens, showing 10 hours of live coverage February 11-12, including 4 hours on NBC and 4 hours on NBC Sports.

NBC Sports has displayed an increased interest in broadcasting rugby since the IOC's 2009 announcement that rugby would return to the Summer Olympics. NBC Sports has recognized that its partnership with USA Sevens to broadcast the tournament will help grow the sport of rugby in the US.

Setanta Sports previously held the cable rights to the USA Sevens, with highlights shown on ABC after the tournament's conclusion. From the 2009–10 season, ESPN3 holds Internet streaming rights to the entire IRB Sevens World Series; it streamed live all 44 matches of the 2010 USA Sevens, as well as all trophy finals in all other legs of the series. Previously, it was covered on the America One network.

Sponsors

Fueled in part by the publicity generated by the NBC broadcasts, the USA Sevens has been successful in lining up several blue-chip corporate sponsors. For the 2011 tournament, sponsors included Bridgestone, Toyota, Subway and ADT. The tournament has been similarly successful in landing sponsors for the 2012 tournament, including Adidas, Pepsi, DHL, Subway and others.

Effective with the 2010–11 series, the London-based global financial services company HSBC became the title sponsor of the entire Sevens World Series, including all individual tournaments. The USA Sevens had the New Zealand brewery Steinlager as its title sponsor in 2007 and as the presenting sponsor in 2008.

History

The USA Sevens debuted at The Home Depot Center in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California in February 2004. This competition marked the first time the United States ever hosted an official IRB event of international importance. USA Rugby was awarded the right to host the USA Sevens for three years, in part because rugby was recognized as one of the fastest growing team sports in the US. In August 2006, USA Rugby and the International Rugby Board renewed the contract for the USA Sevens to remain in the IRB Sevens World Series. The US has hosted a tournament on the IRB Sevens World Series every year since its 2004 debut. This makes the USA Sevens tournament one of the longer running consecutive hosts on the circuit.

USA Sevens LLC, the operator of the event, signed an agreement to host the USA Sevens tournament, beginning February 2007 at PETCO Park, the home field of the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball. San Diego was an appealing location because the average high temperature in San Diego in February is a balmy 72 °F (22 °C).

In 2005, USA Rugby sold a 90% interest in USA Sevens, LLC to American International Media, LLC (AIM). USA Rugby holds the remaining 10% ownership interest.

Past results

Year	Host		Cup Final				Plate Final
			Winner	Score	Runner-up		Winner	Score	Runner-up
2004 Details	Carson, California		Argentina	21–12	New Zealand		England	55–0	Canada
2005 Details	Carson, California		New Zealand	34–5	Argentina		Fiji	24–21	Samoa
2006 Details	Carson, California		England	38–5	Fiji		Argentina	21–5	France
2007 Details	San Diego, California		Fiji	38–24	Samoa		South Africa	28–19	Scotland
2008 Details	San Diego, California		New Zealand	27–12	South Africa		Fiji	26–21 (aet)	Argentina
2009 Details	San Diego, California		Argentina	19–14	England		New Zealand	22–7	Kenya
2010 Details	Las Vegas, Nevada		Samoa	33–12	New Zealand		South Africa	12–7	Fiji
2011 Details	Las Vegas, Nevada		South Africa	24–14	Fiji		Samoa	26–17	Kenya
2012 Details	Las Vegas, Nevada		Samoa	26–19	New Zealand		Kenya	21–7	Argentina

The best performance to date for the US national team in the USA Sevens came in the 2009 USA Sevens, when the United States beat Australia and Kenya to get to the semifinals, only to lose to eventual champions Argentina 19–14.

Leading scorers

Leading Tournament Scorers

Season	Tries	Points
2004	??	??
2005	8-Tafai Ioasa (New Zealand)	61-Orene Ai'i (New Zealand)
2006	9-David Strettle (England)	59-Ben Gollings (England)
2007	6-(several)	56-William Ryder (Fiji)
2008	8-Chris Wyles (USA) & Victor Vito (NZ)	51-Ben Gollings (England)
2009	8-Viliame Waqasduadua (New Zealand)	48-Peni Rokodiva (Fiji)
2010	11-Mikaele Pesamino (Samoa)	55-Mikaele Pesamino (Samoa)
2011	10-Collins Injera (Kenya)	54-Cecil Afrika (South Africa)
2012	7-Cecil Afrika (South Africa)	44-Tomasi Cama (New Zealand)

See also

• IRB Sevens World Series
• United States national rugby union team (sevens)
• Al Caravelli
• United States national rugby union team
• Rugby union in the United States
• North America 4 and its successor, the Americas Rugby Championship

External links

• Official USA Sevens Homepage
• All-Time Event Records
• Official IRB homepage for USA Sevens
• Index of World Sevens series