THERE is a record that all 16 teams of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2019 are trying to break this weekend.
And that is to better the record of 386 tries set in Hong Kong in 2011. Well, we can always say that Hong Kong has more teams with 24 competitors.
In the 20 year history of the series, no event has seen more than 300 tries scored when only 16 teams are playing.
The record was almost broken in the 2019 series with the Dubai event finishing with 278 tries and Cape Town with 293 tries.
There is also a record individual players will try to break. In the last three years, no player has scored more than 10 tries in a tournament.
According to World Rugby, since Wellington 2017 and now 20 consecutive tournaments the only player to have scored 10 tries was French Terry Bouhraoua which was in Cape Town in 2016.
This is the second year the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series returns to Hamilton after relocating from Wellington after 18 consecutive tournaments.
Home team New Zealand still holds the series record for most event wins at a tournament on home soil winning nine Cup finals in Wellington.
South Africa sits second with four titles, while England is third with three titles at their home event.
In the last 20 years, only Argentina and Kenya have never won a NZ tournament though they have played in the final. The other six countries who have played in New Zealand and have won are the All Blacks 7s, Fiji, Samoa, South Africa, England and Australia.
Arch rivals, Fiji and South African have played the Cup final in New Zealand in the past two tournaments.
Our national side holds the record for most runner-up finishes in New Zealand having done so five times.
Some more records:
- The record for total tries scored at a single HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series event in New Zealand is 288 back in 2004.
- Fiji holds the record for the most tries at a single tournament in New Zealand, scoring 38 in Wellington in 2000.
- Since 2012, no team has scored more than 30 tries in the NZ leg of the series
- There were 255 tries scored in Hamilton last year, two tries more than in Wellington 2017
- Fiji’s Sireli Bobo holds the record for most individual tries in a tournament in New Zealand, scoring 12 tries in Wellington in 2003.
- Fiji’s Waisale Serevi holds the record for the most individual points in a single tournament in New Zealand scoring 84 points in Wellington in 2000.
