World Sevens Series

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The World Sevens Series is an international rugby union sevens series of tournaments run by the International Rugby Board. The tournaments span the globe, with the following events included in the 2005-06 tour:

Dubai (Dubai Exiles Rugby Ground): December 1-2, 2005
South Africa, aka George (Outeniqua Park, George): December 9-10, 2005
New Zealand (Westpac Stadium, Wellington): February 3-4, 2006
USA (Home Depot Center, Carson, California): February 11-12, 2006
Hong Kong (Hong Kong Stadium): March 31-April 2, 2006
Singapore (National Stadium): April 8-9, 2006
Paris (Stade Jean Bouin): May 27-28, 2006
England (Twickenham, London): June 3-4, 2006

The most famous Sevens event, the Hong Kong Sevens, returns to the series after a one-year hiatus in 2004-05 for the IRB Rugby World Cup Sevens, which was held in Hong Kong in March 2005 and won by Fiji.

Sevens is a stripped-down version of rugby union, with seven players on each side rather than fifteen. Games are much shorter, seven or ten minutes each half, and tend to be very fast-paced, open affairs. Sevens is traditionally played in a two-day tournament format, with the Hong Kong Sevens being the most famous.

New Zealand and Fiji are traditionally the strongest teams, although recently Australia, Samoa, England, South Africa, Argentina and France have all won tournaments. England and South Africa won tournaments in both the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons; France won an event in 2004-05, and Argentina won an event in 2003-04.