List of women's rugby sevens competitions

Rugby sevens – a short form of the sport of rugby union – was first played in 1883, with the first (men's) internationals taking place in 1973. As women's rugby union developed in the 1960s and 1970s the format became very popular as it allowed games, and entire leagues, to be developed in countries even when player numbers were small, and it remains the main form the women's game is played in most parts of the world.

However, although the first Women's international rugby union 15-a-side test match took place in 1982, it was not until 1997 before the first 7-a-side internationals were played, when the Hong Kong Sevens included a women's tournament for the first time.

Over the next decade the number of tournaments grew, with almost every region developing regular championship. This reached its zenith with the first Women's Sevens World Cup in 2009, shortly followed by the announcement that women's rugby sevens will be included in the Olympics from 2016. In 2011/12 the IRB organised three official women's challenges tournaments in Dubai, Hong Kong and London. After the success of these events an annual IRB Women's Sevens World Series was launched from the start of the 2012/13 season.

The following is a list of all women's international tournaments that have been traced since 1997, listed chronologically with the earliest first, with links to result details, where known. If two tournaments are run concurrently the apparently more senior will be listed first.

Some tournaments include both club and national teams, and these are only included where the majority of teams are International. Occasionally what are effectively national teams play unofficially under an assumed name – these games are also noted where this is known.

The summary section looks at each region in turn and attempts to draw some conclusions about the relative strengths of the participants. This is a little flawed due to the absence of some results and information as well as the inclusion of non-international teams to make up the numbers but should give the best guess available.

1997[edit]

Hong Kong Sevens[edit]

15–16 March 1997
Winners: New Zealand Wild Ducks
Competitors: Arabian Gulf, Australia, Canada, England, Fiji, Hong Kong, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand Wild Ducks, Scotland, Singapore, United States

1998[edit]

Carib International Sevens (Exhibition game)[edit]

December 1998
Trinidad & Tobago 12–29 St. Vincent & the Grenadines^[1]

YC&AC Invitational Womens Sevens Tournament

March 28nd 1998

Winners New Zealand

Competitors: Japan1 Japan 2, New Zealand, World Invitational team,

1999[edit]

Hong Kong Sevens[edit]

22–24 March 1999
Winners: New Zealand Wild Ducks
Competitors: Arabian Gulf, Australia, China, England, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand Wild Ducks, Russia, Samoa, Singapore, United States
YC&AC International Womens Sevens Tournament March 28th 1999 Winners New Zealand Competitors: Japan 1, Japan 2, New Zealand, World Invitational team, USA, Samoa

2000[edit]

Asian Championship[edit]

22–24 March 2000. Played as part of the Hong Kong Sevens
Winners: Kazakhstan
Competitors: Arabian Gulf, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, Singapore, Thailand

Hong Kong Sevens[edit]

22–24 March 2000
Winners: New Zealand
Competitors: Arabian Gulf, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Samoa, Singapore, Thailand, United States, Wales

YC&AC International Womens Sevens Tournament

April 1th 2000

Winners New Zealand

Competitors: Japan, New Zealand, World Invitational team, USA

Jamaica vs Cayman Islands[edit]

Date unknown
Winners: Cayman Islands, two matches to nil. Scores unknown.^[2]

2001[edit]

Asian Championship[edit]

28–30 March 2001. Played as part of the Hong Kong Sevens
Winners: Kazakhstan
Competitors: Arabian Gulf, China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Singapore, Thailand

Hong Kong Sevens[edit]

28–30 March 2001
Winners: New Zealand
Competitors: Arabian Gulf, Australia, England, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Samoa, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, United States

YC&AC International Womens Sevens Tournament

April 7th 2001

Winners New Zealand

Competitors: Japan, New Zealand, World Invitational team, USA

2002[edit]

Whangarei tournament[edit]

Venue/Date: Whangarei, New Zealand, 17 February 2002 (Source NZ Rugby, USA Rugby^[3])

New Zealand A 12–12 United States
New Zealand B 31–5 Invitation^[4]
New Zealand B 12–5 United States
New Zealand A 35–0 Invitation
United States 19–0 Invitation
New Zealand A ?-? New Zealand B

United States 14–12 United Kawakawa
NZ Maori 41–7 United States
NZ Maori 'B' 10–5 United States
United States 0–0 North Harbour
United States^[5] 5–0 NZ Maori 'B' (3rd place match)

Asian Championship[edit]

21–22 March 2002. Played as part of the Hong Kong Sevens
Winners: Kazakhstan
Competitors: Arabian Gulf, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, Thailand

Hong Kong Sevens[edit]

21–22 March 2002
Winner: Aotearoa Maori
Competitors: Arabian Gulf, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, Aotearoa Maori, Thailand, United States

2003[edit]

Lomai tournament[edit]

^[6]

Fiji^[7] 7–0 United States
Fiji 0–21 United States

Whangarei tournament[edit]

United States are known to have gone on to this tournament before Hong Kong.

South Pacific Games[edit]

Plans were afoot for a women's sevens tournament but it required six teams. It is not thought that this was achieved.^[8]

2004[edit]

CAR North Tournament[edit]

At Tunisia, 5–7 March 2004
Winners: Unknown
Competitors: Malta, Tunisia and others

Hong Kong Sevens[edit]

At Hong Kong, March 2004
Competitors: Australia, China, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Aotearoa Maori, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United States
Winner: Aotearoa Maori

South America Tournament[edit]

At: Barquisimeto, Venezuela, 20–21 April 2004
Competitors: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela
Winner: Brazil

Rwanda v Burundi[edit]

At:Unknown. May 2004^[9]
Rwanda 5–0 Burundi

Asian Tournament[edit]

At Almaty, Kazakhstan, 15–16 May 2004
Competitors: Arabian Gulf, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan 2, Kyrgyzstan, Singapore, Thailand, Uzbekistan
Winner: Kazakhstan

European Tournament[edit]

At Limoges, France, 21–22 May 2004
Winners: England
Competitors: Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, France, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland

Training Tournament (Central Europe)[edit]

At Székesfehérvár, Hungary, 26 June 2004
Competitors: Austria, Croatia, Hungary
Hungary 36–5 Austria
Other scores not recorded

2005[edit]

CAR North Tournament[edit]

At Tunisia
Winners: Unknown
Competitors: Unknown

Hong Kong Sevens[edit]

At Hong Kong, March 2005
Competitors: Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Aotearoa Maori, Singapore, Thailand, United States
Winner: Aotearoa Maori

Asian Tournament[edit]

At Singapore, 15–16 April 2005
Competitors: Arabian Gulf, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uzbekistan
Winner: Kazakhstan

European Qualification Tournament[edit]

At: Prague, 14–15 May 2005
Winner: Russia
Participants: Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Poland, Russia

FIRA Women's European Championship[edit]

At: Lunel, France, 25–26 June 2005
Winner: England
Participants: Belgium, Croatia, England, France, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland

CAR African Sevens[edit]

Venue/Date: Kampala, 5–6 November 2005

Cancelled for financial reasons

Training Tournament (Central Europe)[edit]

Venue/Date: Hungary, 6 November 2005^[10]
Hungary 24–10 Austria
Austria 10–12 Croatia
Hungary played Croatia

NAWIRA Tournament[edit]

At: Barbados, 19–20 November 2005
Winner: United States
Participants: Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, United States

South America Tournament[edit]

At: São Paulo, Brazil, 19–20 November 2005
Competitors: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela
Winner: Brazil

Valentin Martinez International Tournament[edit]

At: Montevideo, Uruguay, date unknown
Winner: Brazil A
Participants: Argentina A, Argentina B, Brazil A, Brazil B, Chile, Uruguay A, Uruguay B

2006[edit]

USA Tournament[edit]

Venue: Los Angeles
Winner: United States
Participants: Canada, United States

Asian Championship[edit]

Venue/Date: Taskent, Uzbekistan, 15–16 May
Winner: China
Participants: Arabian Gulf, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Singapore, Thailand, Uzbekistan

CAR North Tournament[edit]

At Tunisia
Winners: Unknown
Competitors: Unknown

CAR South Tournament[edit]

At Uganda
Winners: Unknown
Competitors: Unknown

Hong Kong Sevens[edit]

At Hong Kong, March 2006
Competitors: Australia, China, Guam, Hong Kong, Japan, Netherlands, Aotearoa Maori, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United States
Winner: Aotearoa Maori

Emerging European Nations[edit]

Venue: Hungary
No results published

FIRA-AER European Championship – Division A[edit]

Venue/Date: Limoges, France, 25–27 May 2006
Winner: Wales
Participants: Belgium, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Wales

FIRA-AER European Championship – Division B[edit]

Venue: Limoges, France, 25–27 May 2006
Winner: Romania
Participants: Andorra, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Hungary, Israel, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Romania

CAR African Championship[edit]

Venue: Kyadondo Rugby Club, Kampala, Uganda
Winner: Emerging South Africa
Competitors: Burundi, Kenya, Emerging South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda, Uganda Select, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Friendly Games[edit]

Date/Venue: 24–25 July 2006, Grossmugl, Austria. (Source Austria Union)
The only information is that teams from Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bavaria, and Mugl took part in a men's and women's tournament.