Womens Health Australia September 2017

Best Body WinS

Rugby Sevens 101

Rugby Sevens only appeared on

your radar recently? That’s probably

because although the variation of

Rugby Union originated in Scotland

in the 1880s, the Sevens World

Series only began in 1999 – plus

the Rio 2016 Olympics pretty

much put the game on the map for

Aussie women. One, because it was

the first time the game had been

included in an Olympics, and two,

because our Sevens girls (see some

of them, left) took home gold!

So how does it differ from Rugby

Union? While the trad form of the

game has 15 players, Sevens only

has – you guessed it – seven. And

it’s a short and sharp game. “They

play two seven-minute halves,”

says Fox Sports presenter Louise

Ransome. There’s a lot more speed

and longer stretches of running

with the ball than in a regular Rugby

game as there are fewer players on

the field to tackle. And seven players

couldn’t possibly cover that much

ground and play for 80 minutes. For

these reasons, it’s a more dynamic,

athletic, fun version of the game.

Apart from that, the rules are

similar to the 15s game. Teams score

five points for a try (a touchdown

of the ball on the ground behind

the goal line), three points for a

drop goal (drop-kicking the ball

between the goalposts and over

the cross bar), and two points for

a conversion (a kick between the

posts after a try is scored).

When

are the

women’s

Aussie 7s

playing

next?

AUG 25-

SEPT 30:

Uni Sevens,

Australia

(the entire

Australian

women’s

Sevens

squad will

play in this

series, linking

up with

university

teams from

around the

country)

OCT 19-21:

Aus v NZ

Series,

Bendigo, Vic

OCT 27-29:

Central Coast

Sevens,

Wyong, NSW

NOV 11-12:

Oceania

Sevens,

Cook Islands

NOV 30-DEC 1:

HSBC World

Series, Dubai

SEPTEMBER 2017 womenshealth.com.au 41