Until recently international Sevens tournaments were run independently, without any overall governing structure. Individual organizers in places like Hong Kong, Dubai and Paris were left to their own devices to attract talented teams and players who were in search of fun to be had on tour away from the rigors and demands of the regular game. That began to change with the staging of the first Sevens World Cup in 1993 and the subsequent launch of the World Sevens Series by the International Rugby Board for the 1999/2000 season.
Since then Sevens has become an established part of the IRB's worldwide calendar, allowing less developed nations to compete on a more equal footing with the big boys and providing the powerful elite with a tool for developing their young talent.
In the United States Sevens has long been used as both an off-season conditioning exercise and as an excuse to bring together promising players to compete at various tournaments utilizing the abbreviated version of the game.
In most respects the laws for Sevens are the same as for the full game with the obvious differences that there are only seven players per team and each match consists of two seven minute halves. The result is that Sevens is played at a breakneck pace that produces lots of scoring and minimal stoppages. You'll see significantly fewer rucks and almost no mauls in a Sevens contest and the tackle area is significantly less crowded resulting in fewer whistlings by the referee.
The set pieces in Sevens also differ considerably from fifteens as there are only three players in each scrum and usually two or three in each lineout. This makes for a markedly different game because the team putting the ball in almost always wins it and is then able to get back to the business at hand, which is running in tries from everywhere!
Despite the diminished number of players in Sevens the dimensions of the field remain the same, thus putting a premium on speed and fitness to cover all that ground both offensively and defensively. You won't find very many tight forwards playing this game, with the occasional exception of a speedy hooker.
And while speed is indeed an essential component of any Sevens team, organization and communication are also highly valued. With so few players on the pitch, precision placement on every defensive assignment and offensive alignment is critical for success. There's no room for loafers or lackadaisical effort on either side of the ball.
Two required skills for every Sevens player are excellent ball handling and sure tackling. Passes of 20 meters or more are common and one missed tackle often means that the other team scores a try.
