Australian Sevens
| Most recent season or competition: 2020 Sydney Sevens | |
| File:Sydney Sevens logo.png | |
| Sport | Rugby sevens |
|---|---|
| First season | 1986 |
| Country | Australia |
| Venue(s) | Sydney Football Stadium |
| Most recent champion(s) |  New Zealand (2023) |
| Most titles |  Fiji (6 titles) |
The Australia Sevens is an international rugby sevens tournament that was first played in 1986. Currently hosted as the Sydney Sevens, the event is part of the World Rugby Sevens Series.[1] The tournament was held in Brisbane, in Adelaide, and on the Gold Coast in previous seasons.
History
The NSW Rugby Union hosted an international sevens tournament at Concord Oval in Sydney from 1986 to 1988, as part of Australia's Bicentennial celebrations. The Australian Rugby Football Union, later the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) and now known as Rugby Australia, continued the event for a further year in 1989.[2]
The 2000 Brisbane Sevens was the first Australian Sevens tournament in the World Sevens Series run by the International Rugby Board (IRB), now known as World Rugby. It was the 7th tournament of the series in the inaugural 1999-2000 season and was hosted at Lang Park. Fiji played Australia in the final, and won the match in the dying seconds, thanks to a brilliant try to Waisale Serevi.[3] Brisbane's hosting rights for 2001 were withdrawn by the IRB because of the Australian Federal Government's sporting boycott of Fiji,[4] imposed after the 2000 Fijian coup d'état.[5] After sanctions were lifted later in 2001,[6] the remaining two tournaments of Brisbane's four-year hosting agreement were played and won by Australia and England in 2002 and 2003 respectively.[7][8] Australia was not awarded a World Sevens tournament for the next three years.
Adelaide secured the hosting rights for the 2006/07 season. The 2007 Adelaide Sevens took place in April of that year, replacing the Singapore Sevens in the calendar.[9] The tournament was hosted at Adelaide Oval for five seasons, with the last edition of the Adelaide Sevens being held in 2011.
Gold Coast 7s
In April 2011, the ARU announced that the Australian leg of the Sevens World Series would be played at Skilled Park on the Gold Coast for at least the next four years.[10] The tournament was scheduled for the early part of the 2011/12 season, which meant that two World Sevens events were played in Australia in 2011. The Gold Coast tournament was initially named the "International Rugby Sevens Gold Coast",[10] but was later rebranded as the Gold Coast Sevens.[11]
The Gold Coast attendances for the 2013 and 2014 events were lower than expected,[12][13] and in March 2015 the ARU announced that Sydney would host the event for the next four years from the 2015–16 season.[13][14]
With the closure and rebuilding of Sydney Football Stadium, both men's and women's events for the Sydney Sevens tournament were moved to Sydney Showground Stadium in 2019,[15] and Western Sydney Stadium for 2020.[16]
Results
Invitational tournament
| Year | Venue | Final | Placings | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | Winner | Score | Runner-up | Plate | Bowl | Shield | Ref | |
| 1986 | Concord Oval |  New Zealand |
32–0 |  Australia |
 Argentina |
 Wales |
— | [17] [18] |
| 1987 | Concord Oval | Australia |
22–10 | New Zealand |
 South Korea |
 Fiji |
 Western Samoa |
[19] |
| 1988 | Concord Oval | New Zealand |
22–12 |  Scotland |
Fiji |
Australia |
 Spain |
[20] |
| 1989 | Concord Oval | New Zealand |
26–16 | Western Samoa |
Australia |
Fiji |
— | [21] [22] |
World Rugby Sevens Series
Team records
Summary of results in the Australian leg of the World Rugby Sevens Series:
| Team | Winner | Runner-up | Third | Fourth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fiji
|
6 ('00, '07, '11,[a] '12, '14, '20) | 1 ('03) | 1 ('23) | 1 ('19) |
| New Zealand
|
5 ('11, '13, '16, '19, '23) | 4 ('02, '08, '11,[a] '12) | 1 ('17) | – |
 South Africa
|
3 ('08, '09, '17) | 4 ('11, '18, '20, '23) | – | – |
 Australia
|
2 ('02, '18) | 3 ('00, '13, '16) | – | 1 ('17) |
 Samoa
|
1 ('10) | 2 ('07, '14) | – | – |
 England
|
1 ('03) | 1 ('17) | 1 ('19) | 1 ('20) |
 United States
|
– | 2 ('10, '19) | 1 ('20) | 1 ('18) |
 Kenya
|
– | 1 ('09) | – | – |
 Argentina
|
– | – | 1 ('18) | – |
 France
|
– | – | – | 1 ('23) |
Updated to the 2023 tournament
Notes:
See also
References
- ^ "Sydney takes over from Gold Coast as Sevens host". The Roar. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
- ^ Sydney 1986–. Rugby 7.
- ^ "Brisbane Sevens draw". espnscrum.com. 16 January 2002. Archived from the original on 8 December 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
- ^ a b Funnell, Camille (15 January 2001). "Australia misses out on hosting World Rugby Sevens tournament". abc.net.au. Archived from the original on 16 December 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
- ^ Bormann, Trevor (18 July 2000). "Australia places 'smart' sanctions on Fiji". abc.net.au. Archived from the original on 29 September 2004. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
- ^ Downer, Alexander (5 October 2001). "Sanctions Against Fiji are Lifted" (Press release). Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 16 October 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
- ^ "IRB Sevens III - Brisbane, Australia. 3/2/2002 - 3/3/2002". rugby7.com. 2002. Archived from the original on 12 November 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ "IRB Sevens IV - Brisbane, Australia. 2/1/2003 - 3/1/2003". rugby7.com. 2003. Archived from the original on 12 November 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ^ "Adelaide Sevens" (Press release). rugby.com.au. Archived from the original on 29 April 2007. Retrieved 7 April 2007.
- ^ a b "Gold Coast to Become New Home for Australian Sevens" (Press release). Australian Rugby Union. 13 April 2011. Archived from the original on 11 October 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
- ^ "Gold Coast Sevens". Australian Rugby Union. Archived from the original on 6 August 2011. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
- ^ Tucker, Jim (13 October 2013). "ARU boss Bill Pulver considers switching Gold Coast Sevens to Brisbane or Sydney after poor crowds". The Courier Mail. Archived from the original on 11 October 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
- ^ a b "Sevens World Series moves to Sydney in 2015–16 season". The Sydney Morning Herald. 9 March 2015. Archived from the original on 9 March 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
- ^ "HSBC partners with World Rugby for record-breaking sevens properties". Australian Rugby. 30 June 2015. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
- ^ "Sydney 7s has a new home in 2019" (Press release). Rugby Australia. 25 May 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
- ^ "HSBC Sydney 7s heads to Bankwest Stadium". Rugby Australia. 3 June 2019. Archived from the original on 4 June 2019.
- ^ Hagerty, Ed (April 1986). "All Blacks: World 7s Champs" (PDF). Rugby. New York. pp. 6–10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 May 2017.
- ^ "Annual Report" (PDF). Australian Rugby. 1986. pp. 7–8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
- ^ "Annual Report" (PDF). Australian Rugby. 1987. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
- ^ "Annual Report" (PDF). Australian Rugby. 1988. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
- ^ "Gardner comeback in Sevens". The Sydney Morning Herald. 15 March 1989. Archived from the original on 9 July 2016. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
- ^ "Annual Report" (PDF). Australian Rugby. 1989. p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
- ^ "2021 Hamilton, Sydney Sevens cancelled due to COVID-19". ESPN. 1 September 2020. Archived from the original on 4 September 2021.
- ^ Ekin, Kim (3 September 2021). "Four stages of World Rugby Sevens Series cancelled in space of an hour". Rugby Pass. Archived from the original on 3 September 2021.