World Rugby bosses say they still regard sevens as a vehicle to grow the sport despite shrinking the world series.
Only eight sides will play on each of the men’s and women’s series for the majority of this season as part of a revamped format for the abridged game.
That is half the number of men’s sides who competed in the main event at Dubai Sevens a decade ago, for example.
Rugby was gearing up for its return to the Olympics then. The debut of sevens at Rio 2016 was widely regarded as a success, which it was hoped would increase the sport’s appeal in new territories, including Olympic powerhouses like the United States and Russia.
Within two Olympic cycles, it had become one of the most popular events in the Games. At Paris in 2024, sevens – fuelled by the success of Antoine Dupont’s France side – was reportedly the most watched sport after track and field.
And yet just over a season later, the Men’s HSBC SVNS has contracted to eight sides: Argentina, South Africa, France, Fiji, Spain, New Zealand, Australia and Great Britain.
It means many of the countries that have given Dubai Sevens in particular so much of its colour in the past are now absent.
Four-time champions England are a distant memory. They were initially integrated into the new Great Britain side, but have since cut support to that. The GB men’s side is now run by Scotland.
Ireland’s men reached the final in Dubai three years ago, but have now disbanded. Two-time Dubai finalists USA are not one of the core teams. And Kenya, who have always been among the best supported sides in Dubai, are also absent.
Sides from a new second-tier series do have a chance to join the final three legs of the season. Four teams will join the eight core sides for the series finale, at the end of which a world champion will be decided.
As part of the changes, there are second and third-tier series that play their own tournaments around the world as part of the competition structure.
Critics argue that the changes to the series will make it harder for sides beyond the core eight to develop in the sport, or compete at the top level of sevens.
But Brett Robinson, the chair of World Rugby, said the changes will help ensure sevens remains “the path to grow the game”.
“The challenge always is [about] creating compelling competitive context as well as pathway,” Robinson told The National. “In World Rugby, the push and the shove of that is to ensure our investment in sevens is delivering on the first but also on the second.
“Our ambition is to grow and build this game globally. And Sevens is a platform to do that into new markets; into Asia, into South America, and into North America.”
Robinson said the changes will help ensure the “Olympic programme is well supported”.
“What we’ve decided to do is sharpen the focus of the top tier of the sevens programme, so bring more high-quality competition together and then separated out over three series,” Robinson said.
“So there’s three layers of the sevens model that ultimately leads to the top teams playing in a final series at the end of three tournaments.
“From our perspective, you can qualify through this system to play in the top series if you’re good enough, and there’s that pathway that’s always there.
“And if you’re not good enough at the top, you can also be, you can be relegated. So I think the principle of jeopardy is strong.
“I think it also supports our ambition of trying to make sure that the Olympic programme is well supported through the system of competition.”
Robinson understands the evolution of the format. The former Australia Test player was part of a Queensland side that won the main event at Dubai Sevens in 1991.
Back then, at the old Dubai Exiles ground in Al Awir, the tournament was played on sand among invitational teams. The concept of a world series, as well as the installation of grass in Dubai, was still some years away.
Thirty-four years later, his daughter is playing in the International Social tournament this weekend, just as his son did last year. His children will have enjoyed a vastly different experience on the carefully tended fields of The Sevens, which has been home to rugby in the Middle East since 2008, to what he did back in 1991.
“We used to strap our knees and our elbows up, and that’d all get ripped off in the first tackle,” Robinson said of the experience of playing matches on sand. “It wasn’t as bad as it sounds because it was soft. [Like] on the beaches in Australia where you’d play touch, it was firm, but it wasn’t rock hard. But you could take a bit of bark off in a tackle, that’s for sure.”
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
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It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
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