Rugby League World Sevens
| World Sevens | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Sport | Rugby league |
| Instituted | 1988 |
| Ceased | 2004 |
| Region | International |
| Holders | Wests Tigers(2004) |
| Most titles | Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (3 titles) |
The Rugby League World Sevens, usually referred to as the World Sevens and sometimes as the World Cup Sevens, was a pre-season rugby league sevens tournament made up over the years primarily of New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL), Australian Rugby League (ARL) and mostly recently National Rugby League (NRL) teams, along with teams representing NSW Country and nations including Tonga, France, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Russia, Fiji, the USA and England.
When the National Rugby League was formed in Australasia in 1998 the World Sevens competition was dropped, but it returned in 2003 when Parramatta successfully defended their title from the last time in 1997.
The World Sevens format saw entrants divided into eight pools. The top team in each pool progressed into the quarter finals.
Until 2004, second placed teams from each pool would play each other, as would third placed teams. In 2004, when the competition was known as the Cougar Bourbon World Sevens, this format changed, when only the top placed teams played for the major prize.
Each match played up to and including the semi-finals had two 7-minute halves with extra time played in the event of tie at the end normal time. The final is longer with two 10-minute halves. In 2004, the tackle limit was reduced from 6 to 4.
The World Sevens were held at Parramatta Stadium from 1988 to 1991 and Sydney Football 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.
Wigan played in the rain-soaked 1992 World Sevens as they opted to fulfil a promise made by their club's chairman, Maurice Lindsay, to appear despite having commitments in the Challenge Cup. After a win in extra time against Cronulla in the opening match hinted at a strong challenge for the title, a poor performance and loss to the Gold Coast Seagulls saw Wigan's challenge seeming likely to fail. The group stage ended with each team in Wigan's group having won one game, but by virtue of "most tries scored" they proceeded to the quarter-finals, despite their chances being largely written off.John Monie, the Wigan coach, told his team, "We've copped a bit of a bagging in the press today saying we're a typical Pommy side and can't tackle ... and the other thing was that they say 'Oh, Penrith's got the easy draw again because they're playing Wigan'". In the event, Wigan breezed past Penrith 22-8 in the quarter-final and a Denis Betts try in extra time won the semi-final against Manly. Scorer of six tries before the game, Martin Offiah, the Man of the Series, scored four more in the final played against the Brisbane Broncos (the former club of Wigan's new recruit for 1992, Gene Miles), a game Wigan won 18-6.
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