Rugby World Cup Sevens

The Rugby World Cup Sevens was the world's premier international contest in the Sevens version of rugby union before the sport was added to the Olympics starting in 2016. The World Cup was first held for men's teams only in Scotland in 1993; a women's World Cup was added in 2009 when the event was held in Dubai. Through 2013, the World Cup has been held every four years; after a five-year break for the next tournament in 2018, the four-year cycle will restart. The trophy for the winners of the men's tournament is the Melrose Cup, named after the Scottish town of Melrose where the first sevens game was played. The current holders for both men and women are New Zealand, who won in 2013.

The tournament's most recent edition, in Russia in 2013, was planned to be the last. In October 2009, the International Olympic Committee voted to add men's and women's rugby sevens to the Summer Olympics starting in 2016. World Rugby (then known as the International Rugby Board, or IRB), which runs rugby union around the world, said in September 2009 that it would no longer hold a World Cup if the sport would be part of the Olympics. However, the IRB changed its mind, saying in 2013 that the World Cup would be kept. The next World Cup will be held in 2018, and from that point will continue every four years.