Rugby League World Sevens

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The Rugby League World Sevens were a pre-season rugby league sevens tournament made up of the NSWRL, ARL and NRL teams, along with teams representing NSW Country, Tonga, France, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Russia, Fiji, the USA and England. When the National Rugby League was formed in 1998 the World Sevens competition was dropped, but it returned in 2003 when Parramatta won the title.

1 How it works
2 Why it stopped
3 The future
4 Winners

[edit] How it works

Sevens Rugby League works by having four teams in each pool, with the winners of each pool going into the quarter finals. Until 2004, the Second placed team in each pool would play the second placers from all other pools, and the third placed teams would play each other. In 2004, when the competition was known as the Cougar Bourban World Sevens, this changed, when only the top placed teams played for the major prize and the tackle limit was reduced from 6 to 4.

[edit] Why it stopped

The leadup to the 2004 Tournament was disrupted by many NRL clubs withdrawing many of their top players. ARL Chairman Colin Love threatened to change the rules to make it compulsory for all clubs to have their top players participate, but the fact that the 2004 tournament drew 15,000 less fans than the previous year led to the tournament being axed. The World Sevens were held at Parramatta Stadium from 1988 to 1991 and Sydney's Aussie Stadium from 1992-2004, with the 1995 tournament's opening day being held at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, and the 1996 tournament's opening day taking place at Parramatta Stadium.

[edit] The future

Currently there is no intention to bring the tournament back, although Australian actor Russel Crowe hosts the Orara Valley Axemen Sevens Tournament at Coffs Harbour on the New South Wales North Coast. This tournament is participated in by teams representing countries of the world, local clubs and a few clubs from Brisbane. In 2005 the Souths-Logan Magpies from the Queensland Wizard Cup and the Gold Coast Titans, who are entering the NRL in 2007, were two well known clubs that participated.