New Zealand Sevens (tournament)
The New Zealand Sevens is an annual rugby sevens tournament currently held at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton, New Zealand.[1][2] For the first eighteen years of its history the event was held in Wellington.[1][3] The event is the third on the World Rugby Sevens Series circuit and is generally held in late January or early February.
| Most recent season or competition: 2020 New Zealand Sevens | |
 | |
| Sport | Rugby sevens |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2000 |
| No. of teams | 16 |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Most recent champion(s) |  New Zealand (2020) |
| Most titles | New Zealand (10 titles) |
| Official website | sevens.co.nz |
History
Wellington
Wellington first hosted a tournament in 2000 as part of the inaugural Sevens World Series. The event was the first to be held in the newly-developed Westpac Stadium.[4] The tournament built a reputation for a party atmosphere, with a large proportion of attendees choosing to wear fancy dress.[5] Movie figures such as the Men in Black (MIB) and Austin Powers were crowd favorites and an impersonator of Austin Powers was a regular for many years performing for the crowd.[4] Host team New Zealand dominated the sevens competition in Wellington, winning just over half of all the tournaments held.
Hamilton
The location of the tournament was moved to Hamilton in 2018,[3] after attendances in Wellington had declined.[6] The tournament was hosted as part of an integrated men's and women's event from 2019.[7] Discussion was also begun on alternating the host location of the tournament between Hamilton and Suva, in Fiji, following the 2020 edition.[8][9]
Results
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See also
References
- "HSBC New Zealand Sevens: Hamilton". Sky. 18 January 2018. Archived from the original on 23 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
- "HSBC New Zealand Sevens". HamiltonNew Zealand. 22 May 2017. Archived from the original on 23 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
- "New Zealand Sevens World Series event moving to Hamilton from 2018". Stuff. 22 May 2017. Archived from the original on 23 January 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
- "Sevens' man steps away from annual city 'party'". Dominion Post. 3 August 2013. Archived from the original on 30 January 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
- "Sevens Rugby - the party, the costumes, the players". Talking Rugby Union. 30 July 2014. Archived from the original on 30 January 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
- "Plenty of finger-pointing about demise of the Wellington Sevens". Stuff. 8 February 2016. Archived from the original on 24 January 2017. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
- "Rugby sevens: Hamilton sevens to stage men and women". The New Zealand Herald. 23 February 2018. Archived from the original on 24 February 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
- "New Zealand Sevens tournament could alternate between Hamilton and Fiji". Stuff. 14 March 2019. Archived from the original on 14 March 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
- "Pacific Island nations possible hosts for NZ Sevens - NZ Rugby boss Steve Tew". Stuff. 25 July 2018. Archived from the original on 14 March 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
- "2021 Hamilton, Sydney Sevens cancelled due to COVID-19". ESPN. 4 September 2021. Archived from the original on 4 September 2021.
- Ekin, Kim (3 September 2021). "Four stages of World Rugby Sevens Series cancelled in space of an hour". Rugby Pass. Archived from the original on 3 September 2021.
External links
- New Zealand Sevens official site
- Profile on UR7s.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 12 May 2016)