Rugby union, commonly known in most of the world simply as rugby, is a contact team sport which originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is between two teams of 15 players using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field with H-shaped goalposts on each try line.
The World Rugby Sevens Series is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. The series, organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season, was formed to develop an elite-level competition series between rugby nations and develop the sevens game into a viable commercial product for World Rugby. The competition was originally known as the IRB World Sevens Series, but has been known officially as the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series since 2014 due to sponsorship from banking group HSBC.
The Rugby World Cup Sevens is the premier stand-alone international rugby sevens competition outside the Olympic Games. The event is contested every four years, with tournaments for men's and women's national teams co-hosted at the same venues. It is organised by World Rugby, the sport's governing body.
Rugby union in the United States is a growing national sport. Rugby union at the youth, high school, college, club, and international levels is governed by USA Rugby. There are over 125,000 players registered with USA Rugby as of 2016. Over 2,500 rugby clubs exist around the country, with college rugby being the most popular.
The National Sevens is a rugby sevens tournament for New Zealand provincial teams. It is held annually and features a men's event and a women's event. The best teams in the country compete over two days for the respective men's and women's titles. The tournament is currently held in Tauranga.
The Ireland national rugby sevens team competes annually in European competition. Ireland participates in the Rugby Europe Sevens Grand Prix Series, having been promoted to the Grand Prix competition after winning the 2016 Rugby Europe Trophy division. Ireland has previously competed in individual tournaments within World Rugby Sevens Series, and has stated its goal of winning promotion to core team status in the World Series.
The Rugby Europe Women's Sevens, previously the FIRA–AER Women's Sevens until 2013, is a series of regional championships for women's international rugby sevens in Europe. Prior to 2012, the annual tournament is held over two days, typically on a weekend in June, before the highest category tournament was reorganized as the Sevens Grand Prix Series, modeled after the format of the World Rugby Sevens Series. The tournaments are sanctioned and sponsored by Rugby Europe.
Rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics was played for the first time at the 2016 Summer Olympics with both men's and women's contests. Rugby sevens was added to the Olympics following the decision of the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen in October 2009. The champions for the inaugural rugby sevens tournament in 2016 were Fiji for the men and Australia for the women.
The Japan women's national rugby sevens team has competed in competitions such as the Hong Kong Women's Sevens.
The Ireland women's national rugby sevens team participates in international competitions such as the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, the Rugby Europe Women's Sevens and Rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics. Unlike the Ireland women's national rugby union team, the sevens team is a professional team with players contracted to the Irish Rugby Football Union.
Rugby sevens at the 2016 Summer Olympics was held over six days in August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. The 2016 Olympics was the debut for rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics, though rugby union was last played at the 1924 games.
The World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, known as the HSBC Women's World Rugby Sevens Series for sponsorship reasons, is a series of international rugby sevens tournaments for women's national teams run by World Rugby. The inaugural series was held in 2012–13 as the successor to the IRB Women's Sevens Challenge Cup held the previous season.
Rugby union in Montenegro is a minor but growing sport. The game has only recently been developed in the country since its independence in 2006. The governing body is the Montenegrin Rugby Union which was accepted as a member of Rugby Europe at the 2014 convention held in Split, Croatia. It is not yet affiliated with World Rugby but is applying for membership.
The Great Britain national rugby sevens team is the women's Olympic representative team of Great Britain at the rugby sevens tournament at the Summer Olympic Games. The team played their first competitive match at the 2016 Summer Olympics after England finished in an Olympic qualifying place at the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series.
The qualification process for the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup began on 14 February 2015. Twelve teams qualified for the tournament, which was held in Ireland in 2017.
The 2017 Rugby Europe Women's Sevens Grand Prix Series was the top level of international women's rugby sevens competitions organised by Rugby Europe during 2017. The series featured two tournaments, one hosted in Malemort and one hosted in Kazan. Russia won both tournaments and finished as overall champions. Ireland finished third in both tournaments and finished as the series runners–up. The series also served as a 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifier and Ireland qualified for the World Cup based on their performances in the series. Sweden and the Netherlands were relegated to the 2018 Trophy series.
The 2016 Rugby Europe Women's Sevens Grand Prix Series was the top level of international women's rugby sevens competitions organised by Rugby Europe during 2016. The series featured two tournaments, one hosted in Kazan and one hosted in Malemort. In preparation for 2016 Summer Olympics, England and Wales were replaced by two Great Britain representative teams, the Lions and the Royals. France won the Kazan tournament while Russia won the Malemort tournament. Russia won the overall championship. Finland and Ukraine were relegated to the 2017 Trophy series.
The 2016 Rugby Europe Women's Sevens Trophy was the second level of international women's rugby sevens competitions organised by Rugby Europe during 2016. The competition featured two tournaments, one hosted in Prague and one hosted in Esztergom. Sweden won both tournaments. Sweden and Poland were promoted to the 2017 Grand Prix series while Norway and Denmark were relegated to the 2017 Conferences.
The 2016 Rugby Europe Women's Sevens Conference was the third level of international women's rugby sevens competitions organised by Rugby Europe during 2016. It featured one tournament hosted in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The winners and runners up, Latvia and Malta respectively, were promoted to the 2017 Trophy series.
