London Sevens

The London Sevens is an annual rugby sevens tournament held at Twickenham Stadium in London. It is part of the World Rugby Sevens Series. London was added to the World Series for the first time in 2001.[1] For many years the London Sevens was the last tournament of each season but the Paris Sevens became the last stop on the calendar in 2018. The current titleholder of the London Sevens is Fiji, who beat Australia in the 2019 final.

London Sevens
Recent season or competition
2019 London Sevens
SportRugby sevens
Inaugural season2001
Holders Fiji (2019)
Most titles New Zealand  (5 times)
England playing Spain at the 2008 London Sevens,

The London Sevens is one of the more popular stops on the World Series. The 2011 London Sevens set a single-day attendance record of over 54,000 fans, surpassing the attendance record set by the Dubai Sevens.[2] The tournament has also drawn over 100,000 fans over the course of the weekend, making it one of the largest attended recurring events on the Twickenham stadium calendar. [3]

2013 qualifier

Uniquely, the 2013 edition was not only the final event in the series, but also incorporated the World Series Core Team Qualifier. In Sevens Series terminology, "core teams" are those that are guaranteed a place in all series events in a given season. Unlike all other series events, the 2013 London Sevens had only 12 teams competing for series points, namely the top 12 core teams on the season points table following the season's penultimate tournament, the Scotland Sevens. The Core Team Qualifier involved eight teams—the winner of the HSBC Asian Sevens Series; four teams advancing from the World Series Pre-Qualifier, held as part of the Hong Kong Sevens; and the three core teams at the bottom of the season table after the Scotland Sevens. The top three teams at the end of the Core Team Qualifier became core teams for the next season.[4]

World Rugby, then known as the International Rugby Board, chose to change its core team qualifying process in advance of the 2013–14 series, reducing the number of promotion/relegation places from three to one, and also using only the Hong Kong Sevens for the core team qualifier. Accordingly, the London Sevens returned to its traditional 16-team format from 2014 forward.[5]

Results by year

Year  Venue  Cup final Placings
Winner Score Runner-up Plate Bowl Shield
2001 Twickenham
New Zealand
19–12
Australia

South Africa

Wales
2002 Twickenham
New Zealand
54–14
South Africa

Australia

France

Georgia
2003 Twickenham
England
31–24
Fiji

Australia

Samoa

Argentina
2004 Twickenham
England
22–19
New Zealand

South Africa

France

Portugal
2005 Twickenham
South Africa
21–12
England

Fiji

Samoa

Canada
2006 Twickenham
Fiji
54–14
South Africa

Australia

Portugal

Italy
2007 Twickenham
New Zealand
29–7
Fiji

South Africa

England

Kenya
2008 Twickenham
Samoa
19–14
Fiji

New Zealand

Australia

Spain
2009 Twickenham
England
26–7
New Zealand

Fiji

Kenya

Canada
2010 Twickenham
Australia
19–14
South Africa

New Zealand

Canada

Kenya
2011 Twickenham
South Africa
24–14
Fiji

Samoa

Scotland

England
2012 Twickenham
Fiji
38–15
Samoa

New Zealand

Australia

Wales
2013 Twickenham
New Zealand
47–12
Australia

England

Fiji

Wales
2014 Twickenham
New Zealand
52–33
Australia

South Africa

Canada

United States
2015 Twickenham
United States
45–22
Australia

New Zealand

Kenya

Japan
2016 Twickenham
Scotland
27–26
South Africa

New Zealand

Wales

Kenya
Winner Score Runner-up Third Fourth Fifth
2017 Twickenham
Scotland
12–7
England

Canada

United States

South Africa
2018 Twickenham
Fiji
21–17
South Africa

Ireland

England

New Zealand
2019 Twickenham
Fiji
43–7
Australia

United States

France

New Zealand
2020 Twickenham Tournament cancelled[6]

Multiple winners

The teams that have won the tournament, as part of the World Rugby Sevens Series, on multiple occasions are:

TeamTitlesYears
New Zealand 52001, 2002, 2007, 2013, 2014
Fiji 42006, 2012, 2018, 2019
England 32003, 2004, 2009
Scotland 22016, 2017
South Africa 22005, 2011

See also

References

  1. "Twickenham: The Home of England Rugby", Phil McGowan, Amberley Publishing, 2014.
  2. "London Sevens break single day attendance record", All Blacks, 23 May 2011.
  3. "Twickenham: The Home of England Rugby", Phil McGowan, Amberley Publishing, 2014.
  4. "HSBC World Sevens Series: Series Qualifying". International Rugby Board. Archived from the original on 2 October 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
  5. "One up one down for HSBC World Sevens Series" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 9 October 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  6. "New Zealand awarded titles as HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020 concluded". World Rugby. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
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