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About Sevens Rugby sevens
Rugby sevens is a variant of rugby union in which only seven players per side feature, instead of the full 15. The version of rugby union is very popular, with notable competitions including the IRB Sevens World Series and the Rugby World Cup Sevens. Rugby sevens is also played at events such as the Commonwealth Games. Although it was conceived as an event for rugby union, rugby league has also adopted the sevens format.
Information courtesy of Wikipedia® | Variations to the Laws of the 15 man game
The emphasis of play in Sevens is speed, skill, and fitness. A team is usually comprised entirely of backs, because of their fitness and agility compared to their forward counterparts. Furthermore, players may need to get more creative in making plays, with only 14-20 minutes to play a single game.
There are several variations in laws which apply to Rugby Sevens, primarily to speed up the game and to account for the reduced number of players. The main changes can be summarised as follows: 7 players per team on field (instead of 15); 5 reserves, with only 3 interchanges (instead of 7 and 7); 7-minute halves, 10-minute halves in championships (instead of 40-minute halves); 1-minute half-time, 2 minutes in championships (instead of 10 minutes); Matches drawn after regulation are continued into Sudden Death Extra Time, in 5-minute periods; Conversion attempts must be drop-kicked (instead of having the option to place-kick); Conversions must be taken within 40 seconds of scoring a try (instead of 60 seconds); 3-man scrums (instead of 8); The scoring team kicks off (instead of the non-scoring team); Yellow cards net a 2-minute suspension (instead of 10 minutes); Suspensions are more severe in Sevens than in Fifteens. The team plays a man down for 1/7th of the match instead of 1/8th, and losing 1 man out of 7 opens up many more holes than 1 man out of 15; Referees decide on advantage quickly (where one play usually ends advantage, not true in fifteens); There are additional officials present (in-goal touch judges) to judge success of kicks at goals and hence the game is not delayed waiting for touch judges to move into position to judge conversion attempts.
Information courtesy of Wikipedia® | Overview
Rugby sevens is sanctioned by the International Rugby Board (IRB), and is played under substantially the same rules and on a field of the same dimensions as the 15 player game. While a normal rugby union match lasts upwards of 80 minutes, a normal rugby sevens match lasts approximately 15 minutes (allowing for the one-minute half-time break, injury time and so forth). Competition finals last somewhat more than 20 minutes; each half in a competition final is ten minutes instead of the normal seven minutes, and the half-time break can be two minutes. (In the IRB Sevens World Series, only the Cup final, which determines the overall winner of an event, is played with 10-minute halves; all finals for lower-level trophies are played with normal 7-minute halves.) This allows rugby tournaments to be completed in a day or a weekend. However, sevens scores are generally comparable to union scores; scoring occurs with much greater regularity in sevens, since the defenders are more spaced out than in rugby union. Scrums still exist within sevens, composed of just three players from each team. Given the speedy nature of the game, players are usually either from the backline or the trio of loose forwards in fifteens rugby.
Rugby sevens was initially conceived by Ned Haig, a butcher from Melrose, Scotland as a fund-raising event for his local club in 1883. The first ever sevens match was played at the Greenyards, where it was well received. The largest sevens tournament in the world is the Rosslyn Park Schools tournament, with an attendance of over 3,000 schoolchildren from around the world. Rugby Sevens specialists Wellington College have dominated the rugby sevens festival winning 6 times out of the last 9 years with a five year unbeaten spell between 1998-2003. The first ever officially sanctioned international tournament occurred at Murrayfield as part of the "Scottish Rugby Union's celebration of rugby" centenary celebrations in 1973. Due to the success of the format, the ongoing Hong Kong Sevens was launched three years later. In 1993, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, in which the Melrose Cup is contested, was launched. Two of the best known sevens competitions are the Hong Kong Sevens and Dubai Sevens, which now make up parts of the IRB World Sevens Circuit.
Information courtesy of Wikipedia® |
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