New Zealand National Rugby Sevens Tournament

New Zealand National Rugby Sevens Tournament

Current season, competition or edition: 2013 Pub Charity Sevens
Sport	Rugby union
Founded	1975
No. of teams	16
Country	New Zealand
Most recent champion(s)	Auckland

The New Zealand National Rugby Sevens Tournament (for sponsorship reasons also known as the Pub Charity NZ Rugby Sevens tournament) is an annual rugby sevens tournament held in Queenstown, New Zealand. Each year it features the best sixteen teams in the country competing over two days.

The tournament is promoted by Sevens with Altitude, working in association with the Otago Rugby Football Union and the New Zealand Rugby Union.

History

The New Zealand National Rugby Sevens Tournament was first held in 1975 in Auckland, where Marlborough were the very first champions. Since then the tournament has been held every year (except 1987, 1988, and 2003) and held at various venues. The tournament has been held in Queenstown since 2004, before this Palmerston North hosted the event.^[1]

2009 is the first tournament where the entire event has been screened live by Sky TV.^[2]

The event also serves as an opportunity for players to be selected for the New Zealand Sevens side, as the squad is selected shortly after the event.^[3]

Format

The sixteen teams are divided into four pools. On day one each team plays the other three teams in its pool. The top two teams from each pool qualify for the championship playoffs while the bottom two enter the bowl competition.

Venue

The tournament was first held in Auckland in 1975. Since then it has been held at Christchurch, Blenheim, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Feilding, Pukekohe, Rotorua and since 2004 it has been held at the Queenstown Recreation Ground, which is usually the home of the Wakatipu Rugby Club.

Participants

A map of NZRU provincial union boundaries, including unions competing in both the Air New Zealand Cup and Heartland Championship

The following teams have participated in the tournament:

	Province	Appearances	Championships	2009 Placing
	Auckland	2005-2009	2005,2006,2007,2008
	Bay of Plenty	2006,2008-2009
	Buller	2006
	Canterbury	2006,2008-2009
	Counties Manukau	2006,2008-2009
	Hawke's Bay	2006,2008-2009
	Horowhenua-Kapiti	2008-2009
	Manawatu	2006,2008-2009
	North Harbour	2004,2006,2008-2009	2004, 2009
	North Otago	2005
	Northland	2008-2009
	Otago	2004-2009
	Otago Country	2007, 2009
	South Canterbury	2006,2008,2010
	Southland	2006,2008-2009
	Taranaki	2006,2008-2009
	Tasman	2008
	Waikato	2006,2008-2009
	Wellington	2006,2008-2009
	West Coast	2006,2008-2009

Past winners

1975–2003

Year	Champion	Venue
1975	Marlborough	Auckland
1976	Marlborough	Christchurch
1977	Manawatu	Blenheim
1978	Manawatu	Hamilton
1979	Manawatu	Palmerston North
1980	Auckland	Palmerston North
1981	Taranaki	Palmerston North
1982	Taranaki	Feilding
1983	Auckland	Feilding
1984	Auckland	Feilding
1985	Counties Manukau	Feilding
1986	North Harbour	Feilding
1989	North Harbour	Christchurch
1990	Auckland	Pukekohe
1991	Auckland	Palmerston North
1992	North Harbour	Palmerston North
1993	Canterbury	Palmerston North
1994	Counties Manukau	Palmerston North
1995	Counties Manukau	Palmerston North
1996	Waikato	Palmerston North
1997	Waikato	Rotorua
1998	Waikato	Rotorua
1999	North Harbour	Palmerston North
2000	North Harbour	Palmerston North
2001	North Harbour	Palmerston North
2002	Wellington	Palmerston North

2004–2011

Year	Champion	Score	Runner up	Stadium	Plate	Bowl	Shield
2004	North Harbour		Otago	Queenstown Recreation Ground
2005	Auckland			Queenstown Recreation Ground
2006	Auckland	43 - 12	Wellington	Queenstown Recreation Ground	Bay of Plenty	Southland	Canterbury
2007	Auckland	36 - 17	Canterbury	Queenstown Recreation Ground	Counties Manukau	Wellington	Northland
2008	Auckland	24 - 15	Counties Manukau	Queenstown Recreation Ground	Manawatu	Wellington	Tasman
2009	North Harbour	29 - 26	Counties Manukau	Queenstown Recreation Ground	Wellington	Otago	Southland

Year	Venue	Cup			Plate	Bowl	Shield
		Winner	Final Score	Runner-up	Winner	Winner	Winner
2010	Recreation Ground, Queenstown	Waikato	21 – 14	Bay of Plenty	North Harbour	Horowhenua-Kapiti
2011	Recreation Ground, Queenstown	Auckland	36 – 26	Taranaki	North Harbour	Manawatu	Canterbury
2012	Recreation Ground, Queenstown	Auckland	36 – 24	Otago
2013 Details	Recreation Ground, Queenstown	Taranaki	32 – 17	North Harbour	Auckland	Hawke's Bay	Counties Manukau

References

1. Queenstown shaping up for sevens fest The Southland Times, 9 January 2008
2. Pub Charity Sevens to kick off the 2008 rugby year Sky Sport
3. "NZ rugby sevens in Queenstown". One Sport. 13 January 2006. Retrieved 30 October 2011.

External links

• Official Site
• Pub Charity Official Site