The Australia Sevens is an international rugby sevens tournament that was first played in 1986. Currently hosted as the Perth Sevens, the event is part of the World Rugby Sevens Series. The tournament was held in Brisbane, in Adelaide, in Gold Coast and in Sydney in previous seasons.
History The NSW Rugby Union hosted an international sevens tournament at Concord Oval in Sydney from 1986 to 1988, as part of Australia's Bicentennial celebrations. The Australian Rugby Football Union, later the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) and now known as Rugby Australia, continued the event for a further year in 1989.Sydney 1986–. Rugby 7.
The 2000 Brisbane Sevens was the first Australian Sevens tournament in the World Sevens Series run by the International Rugby Board (IRB), now known as World Rugby. It was the 7th tournament of the series in the inaugural 1999-2000 season and was hosted at Lang Park. Fiji played Australia in the final, and won the match in the dying seconds, thanks to a brilliant try to Waisale Serevi. Brisbane's hosting rights for 2001 were withdrawn by the IRB because of the Australian Federal Government's sporting boycott of Fiji, imposed after the 2000 Fijian coup d'état. After sanctions were lifted later in 2001, the remaining two tournaments of Brisbane's four-year hosting agreement were played and won by Australia and England in 2002 and 2003 respectively. Australia was not awarded a World Sevens tournament for the next three years.
Adelaide secured the hosting rights for the 2006/07 season. The 2007 Adelaide Sevens took place in April of that year, replacing the Singapore Sevens in the calendar. The tournament was hosted at Adelaide Oval for five seasons, with the last edition of the Adelaide Sevens being held in 2011.
In April 2011, the ARU announced that the Australian leg of the Sevens World Series would be played at Skilled Park on the Gold Coast for at least the next four years. The tournament was scheduled for the early part of the 2011/12 season, which meant that two World Sevens events were played in Australia in 2011. The Gold Coast tournament was initially named the "International Rugby Sevens Gold Coast", but was later rebranded as the Gold Coast Sevens.
The Gold Coast attendances for the 2013 and 2014 events were lower than expected, and in March 2015 the ARU announced that Sydney would host the event for the next four years from the 2015–16 season.
With the closure and rebuilding of Sydney Football Stadium, both men's and women's events for the Sydney Sevens tournament were moved to Sydney Showground Stadium in 2019, and Western Sydney Stadium for 2020.
Results Invitational tournament YearVenueFinalPlacings Sydney Winner Score Runner-up Plate Bowl ShieldRef 1986Concord Oval32–0 1987 Concord Oval22–10 1988 Concord Oval22–12 1989 Concord Oval26–16
World Rugby Sevens Series YearVenueFinalPlacings Brisbane Winner Score Runner-up Plate Bowl Shield 2000 Lang Park24–21 2001 Cancelled by IRB due to Australian Government sanctions against Fiji. 2002 Ballymore28–0 2003 Ballymore28–14 AdelaideWinnerScoreRunner-upPlateBowlShield 2007 Adelaide Oval21–7 2008 Adelaide Oval15–7 2009 Adelaide Oval26–7 2010 Adelaide Oval38–10 2011 Adelaide Oval28–20 Gold CoastWinnerScoreRunner-upPlateBowlShield 2011–12 Robina Stadium26–12 2012–13 Robina Stadium32–14 2013–14 Robina Stadium40–19 2014–15 Robina Stadium31–24 SydneyWinnerScoreRunner-upThirdFourthFifth 2016 Sydney Football Stadium27–24 2017 Sydney Football Stadium29–14 2018 Sydney Football Stadium29–0 2019 Sydney Showground21–5 2020 Bankwest Stadium12–10 World Series tournaments planned for Sydney were cancelled in 2021 and 2022, due to COVID-19. 2023 Sydney Football Stadium38–0 PerthWinnerScoreRunner-upThirdFourthFifth 2024Perth Rectangular Stadium31–5 2025Perth Rectangular Stadium41–5 2026Perth Rectangular Stadium21–19
Team records Summary of results in the Australian leg of the World Rugby Sevens Series: TeamWinnerRunner-upThirdFourth 6 ('00, '07, '11, '12, '14, '20)1 ('03)1 ('23)2 ('19, '24)5 ('11, '13, '16, '19, '23)4 ('02, '08, '11, '12)1 ('17) –3 ('08, '09, '17)4 ('11, '18, '20, '23) –1 ('25)2 ('02, '18)5 ('00, '13, '16, '24, '25) –1 ('17)2 ('24, '25) –1 ('18) –1 ('10)2 ('07, '14) – –1 ('03)1 ('17)1 ('19)1 ('20) –2 ('10, '19)1 ('20) 1 ('18) –1 ('09) – – – – 1 ('25) – – – 1 ('24) – – – –1 ('23) Updated to the 2025 tournament
Notes:
See also
Australian Women's Sevens Rugby union in Australia
References
External links Official website Adelaide IRB Sevens profile on UR7s.com
Australians get behind the Adelaide Sevens