The Rugby World Cup Sevens is the premier international rugby sevens competition. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Rugby Board (IRB), and is contested by the men's national sevens teams every four years. The inaugural tournament was held in 1993 in Scotland, the birthplace of rugby sevens. Wales are the current World Champions having won the competition in 2009. Fiji have won the tournament twice. New Zealand and England have both won a single tournament each, while both Australia and South Africa have reached the finals, but have not secured a title.
The winners of the tournament are awarded the Melrose Cup, named after the Scottish town of Melrose where the first rugby sevens game was played.
Prior to the inclusion of Rugby Sevens into the Olympic Games, the IRB stated that their intention would be to end the World Cup Sevens so that the Olympic Games would be the one pinnacle in a four year cycle for Rugby Sevens.
Read more about Rugby World Cup Sevens: History
Famous quotes containing the words world, cup and/or sevens:
“I take enormous pleasure every time I see something that Ive done that cannot be wiped out. In some way ... I guess its a protest against mortality. But its been so much fun! Its the curiosity that drives me. Its making a difference in the world that prevents me from ever giving up.”
—Deborah Meier (b. 1931)
“In poorer lands
No one touches the water of life.
It has no taste
And though it refreshes absolutely
It is a cup that must also pass
Until everybody
Gets some advantage....”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“See,
how they trace
across the very-marble
of this place,
bright sevens and printed fours,
elevens and careful eights....”
—Hilda Doolittle (18861961)