Rugby Europe Sevens

Rugby Europe Sevens
Current season, competition or edition:; 2016 Rugby Europe Men's Sevens Championships
Sport	Rugby union
Founded	2011
No. of teams	12
Country	European
Most recent; champion(s)	France (2nd title)
Most titles	Portugal (8 titles)

The Sevens Grand Prix Series is a European competition of 7-a-side rugby. It was formerly known as the FIRA European Sevens. It is organized as a series of tournament, following the model of the IRB Sevens World Series. The first edition of this competition was held in 2011 with a victory of Portugal.

Format

The twelve teams are playing several tournaments. After the pool phase (2 pools of 6 teams), the teams are distributed in the Cup competition (two first of each pool), the Plate (3rd and 4th) or the Bowl (last two). Points are allocated following the ranking in each tournament. At the end of the series, the Champion is declared. The tournament last two day and each game have to period of 7 minutes except the final of the Cup which is 2x10 minutes.

History

2002–2010

A number of qualifying tournaments lead up to a finals tournament, which functions as the European championship and, in 2008, also as the qualifying stage for the Sevens World Cup.

The first European Championship was held in 2002 in Heidelberg, Germany, and was won by Portugal, the team that won every men's championship since except 2007 and 2009, when Russia won. In 2003, the tournament was again held in Heidelberg and, in 2004, Palma de Mallorca, Spain was the host. From 2005 to 2007, Moscow was the host of the tournament.

Hanover held the tournament for the first time in 2008 and did so again in 2009. In 2010, the tournament return to Moscow.

2011–2014

In 2011, the format of the competition changed. The twelve best teams meet on several tournaments, following the model of the IRB Sevens World Series. The name also changed, the European Championship was known as Sevens Grand Prix Series.

2015–present

Honours

Tournaments

Year	Champion	Runner Up	Third	Fourth
2002	Portugal	Georgia	Germany	France
2003	Portugal	France	Georgia	Germany
2004	Portugal	Italy	Ireland	Scotland
2005	Portugal	Russia	Italy	France
2006	Portugal	Russia	Italy	France
2007	Russia	France	Moldova	Spain
2008	Portugal	Wales	Georgia	Ireland
2009	Russia	France	Italy	Spain
2010	Portugal	France	Russia	Spain
2011	Portugal	England	Spain	Russia
2012	England	Portugal	Wales	Spain
2013	England	France	Russia	Italy
2014	France	Scotland	England	Russia
2015	France	Spain	England	Russia
2016	Russia	France	Spain	Germany

Team records

Team	Champions	Runners-up	Third	Fourth
Portugal	8 (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011)	1 (2012)	-	-
Russia	3 (2007, 2009, 2016)	2 (2005, 2006)	2 (2010, 2013)	3 (2011, 2014, 2015)
France	2 (2014, 2015)	6 (2003, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2016)	-	3 (2002, 2005, 2006)
England	2 (2012, 2013)	1 (2011)	2 (2014, 2015)	-
Italy	-	1 (2004)	3 (2005, 2006, 2009)	1 (2013)
Georgia	-	1 (2002)	2 (2003, 2008)	-
Spain	-	1 (2015)	2 (2011, 2016)	5 (2007, 2009, 2010, 2012)
Wales	-	1 (2008)	1 (2012)	-
Scotland	-	1 (2014)	-	1 (2004)
Germany	-	-	1 (2002)	2 (2003,2016)
Ireland	-	-	1 (2004)	1 (2008)
Moldova	-	-	1 (2007)	-

Lower division

A division

Year	Champion	Runner Up	Third	Fourth
2013	Belgium	Poland	Netherlands	Sweden
2014	Lithuania	Poland	Cyprus	Sweden
2015	Poland	Ukraine	Latvia	Moldova
2016	Ireland	Ukraine	Sweden	Romania

B division

Year	Champion	Runner Up	Third
2013 (North)	Latvia	Norway	Luxembourg
2013 (South)	Monaco	Hungary	Switzerland
2014 (North)	Czech Republic	Norway	Luxembourg
2014 (South)	Hungary	Bulgaria	Switzerland
2015	Ireland	Serbia	Slovenia
2016	Croatia	Luxembourg	Hungary