Many sevens tournaments have a competition for a cup, a plate, a bowl, and a shield, allowing many teams of different standards to avoid leaving empty-handed. The shorter match length allows rugby sevens tournaments to be completed in a day or a weekend. The scoring system is the same as regular rugby union, namely five points for a try, three points for a penalty or drop goal and two points for a post-try conversion. Sevens scores are generally comparable to regular rugby scores, but scoring occurs much more frequently in sevens, since the defenders are more spaced out. Previously, the final of a competition could be played over two halves of ten minutes each, but beginning in 2017, final-round matches were limited to seven-minute halves (excluding ties) in an effort to reduce injuries. While a regular rugby union match lasts at least 80 minutes, a normal sevens match consists of two halves of seven minutes with a two-minute half-time break. Rugby sevens is sanctioned by World Rugby, and is played under similar laws (with exceptions noted below) and on a field of the same dimensions as the 15 player game. It has also been played in events such as the Games of the Small States of Europe, Pan American Games and the Asian Games, and in 2018 a women's tournament was played for the first time at the Commonwealth Games. In 2016, rugby sevens was contested in the Summer Olympics for the first time. The popularity of rugby sevens increased further with the development of the Hong Kong Sevens in the 1970s and was later followed by the inclusion of the sport into the Commonwealth Games for the first time in 1998 and the establishment of the annual World Rugby Sevens Series in 1999 and the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series in 2012. Rugby sevens originated in Melrose, Scotland, in the 1880s the Melrose Sevens tournament is still played annually. Sevens is one of the most well distributed forms of rugby, and is popular in parts of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and especially in the South Pacific.

The game is popular at all levels, with amateur and club tournaments generally held in the summer months. Rugby sevens is administered by World Rugby, the body responsible for rugby union worldwide. Rugby sevens (commonly known as simply sevens and originally known as seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. Outdoor team sport, variant of rugby union Tom Lucas (in yellow) attempts to tackle Samu Bale (in white), who is running with the ball towards the try line.

Sevens card game rules