History
The World Sevens were held at Parramatta Stadium from 1988 to 1991 and Sydney Football Stadium from 1992–2004, with the 1995 tournament's opening day being held at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, and the 1996 tournament's opening day taking place at Parramatta Stadium.
Wigan played in the rain-soaked 1992 World Sevens as they opted to fulfil a promise made by their club's chairman, Maurice Lindsay, to appear despite having commitments in the Challenge Cup. After a win in extra time against Cronulla in the opening match hinted at a strong challenge for the title, a poor performance and loss to the Gold Coast Seagulls saw Wigan's challenge seeming likely to fail. The group stage ended with each team in Wigan's group having won one game, but by virtue of "most tries scored" they proceeded to the quarter-finals, despite their chances being largely written off. John Monie, the Wigan coach, told his team, "We've copped a bit of a bagging in the press today saying we're a typical Pommy side and can't tackle ... and the other thing was that they say 'Oh, Penrith's got the easy draw again because they're playing Wigan'". In the event, Wigan breezed past Penrith 22-8 in the quarter-final and a Dennis Betts try in extra time won the semi-final against Manly. Scorer of six tries before the game, Martin Offiah, the Man of the Series, scored four more in the final played against the Brisbane Broncos (the former club of Wigan's new recruit for 1992, Gene Miles), a game Wigan won 18-6.
In 1995, Canada became the first side in World Sevens not to score a point throughout the tournament. The Canadians lost to the Newcastle Knights 52-0 and New Zealand 56-0 in the group stage and to Western Suburbs 48-0 in the plate quarter-finals.
Nathan Hindmarsh was deemed Player of the Series as Parramatta stormed to victory in the 2003 competition. Parramatta beat Canberra in their quarter-final, followed by South Sydney in the semi-final. The final pitted England against a Parramatta side that flew to the lead, scoring five tries before half-time to England's one by Keith Senior. The match finished 42-18. The Plate final was won by the Bulldogs who beat New Zealand and the Bowl final was won by North Queensland who beat Fiji.
In 2004, the Wests Tigers took the title, winning 18-7 in the final and ending Parramatta's campaign for a third consecutive title. The Wests Tigers' first title as a merged entity gained them A$100,000 in prize money.
Read more about this topic: Rugby League World Sevens
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