After winning back-to-back events in Sydney and Los Angeles, the All Blacks Sevens stumbled to a quarter-final loss to Australia in Vancouver on the World Rugby Sevens Series.
Blitzboks head coach Neil Powell hammered his side’s defensive display after they were comfortably knocked out of the HSBC LA Sevens, jeopardising their World Series title credentials. South Africa still top the HSBC World Rugby Seven Series leaderboard...
Rugby Sevens has a long history that dates back to the 19th century. This variant of the game was founded in 1883 in Melrose and it quickly grew in popularity over the next couple of decades. This was particularly true in Scotland, where it was embraced by cities including Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow. By 1900, Rugby Sevens tournaments had also been hosted in India, New Zealand, Australia and Ireland.
Fast forward to 1921 and England held its first Rugby Sevens tournament. The game exploded during the 1920s and 30s, with new competitions launched across the globe. This culminated in the 1970s with the launch of the first international Rugby Sevens tournament: the Hong Kong Sevens.
Following the Hong Kong Sevens, a wave of international Rugby Sevens competitions were launched. This included the World Rugby Sevens Series, the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series and Rugby World Cup Sevens. Additionally, Rugby Sevens was added to the Commonwealth Games in 1998 and made its Summer Olympics debut in 2016.
Today, Rugby Sevens is played across the world, including in Australia, Canada, Fiji, Japan, Kenya, Portugal, Samoa, South Africa, Tonga and New Zealand. It’s also become popular in minor rugby-playing nations such as Dubai, Hong Kong, Poland and Singapore.
