The Wellington Sevens or New Zealand Sevens is an annual rugby sevens tournament held at Westpac Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand. The tournament is the fourth on the IRB Sevens World Series circuit, and is generally held on the first weekend of February on the weekend preceding the USA Sevens tournament. The Wellington Sevens includes teams from 16 countries.
The event attracts over 30,000 spectators annually. The tournament has become Wellington's largest sporting event, and one of New Zealand's leading sporting events.
Atmosphere[]
It also has a reputation for a party atmosphere, with a large proportion of attendees choosing to wear fancy dress. Recent years have seen large groups of costumes that vary from Fred Flintstone and Wilma to Care Bears, dance troops, wrestlers and many other interesting costumes. More recently items of recent media interest or advertisements form a key theme. Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, George Bush have made appearances. Movie figures such as Men in Black (MIB) and Austin Powers are crowd favorites and an impersonator of Austin has been a regular feature each year performing to the crowd.
In 2009 Air New Zealand, one of the major sponsors for the Wellington sevens, introduced a 'Beads for Kisses' ambient media campaign as a yearly sevens ritual. Over 100,000 strings of Mardi gras style beads were given to the crowd, who could then exchange the beads for kisses from other participants. This was followed in 2010 with the addition of kissing booths.
Past Champions[]
| Year | Champion | Score | Runner up |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 |  Fiji
|
24 – 14[1] |  New Zealand
|
| 2001 |  Australia
|
19 – 17[1] | Fiji
|
| 2002 |  South Africa
|
17 – 14[1] |  Samoa
|
| 2003 | New Zealand
|
38 – 26[1] |  England
|
| 2004 | New Zealand
|
33 – 15[1] | Fiji
|
| 2005 | New Zealand
|
31 – 7[1] |  Argentina
|
| 2006 | Fiji
|
27 – 22[1] | South Africa
|
| 2007 | Samoa
|
17 – 14[1] | Fiji
|
| 2008 | New Zealand
|
22 – 17[1] | Samoa
|
| 2009 | England
|
19 – 17 | New Zealand
|
| 2010 | Fiji
|
19 – 14 | Samoa
|
| 2011 | New Zealand
|
29 – 14[2] | England
|
| 2012 | New Zealand
|
24 – 7[1] | Fiji
|
| 2013 | England
|
24 – 19[1] |  Kenya
|
| 2014 |  New Zealand
|
21 – 0 |  South Africa
|
Notes and references[]
External links[]
| V T E | IRB Sevens World Series | |
|---|---|---|
| 2013-14 events | 2013 Gold Coast Sevens | 2013 Dubai Sevens | 2013 South Africa Sevens | 2014 USA Sevens | 2014 Wellington Sevens | 2014 Japan Sevens | 2014 Hong Kong Sevens | 2014 Scotland Sevens | 2014 London Sevens | |
| Current Stadiums | Robina Stadium | The Sevens | Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium | Sam Boyd Stadium | Westpac Stadium | Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium | Hong Kong Stadium | Scotstoun Stadium | Twickenham Stadium | |
| Former events | Paris Sevens | Singapore Sevens | Shanghai Sevens | Tokyo Sevens | Mar Del Plata Sevens | Punta Del Este Sevens | Kuala Lumpur Sevens | Fiji Sevens | |
| Seasons | 1999-00 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | |
| V T E | Wellington Sevens | |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 | ||