2017 Punta del Este Sevens - Brazil and Fiji at half time

The Uruguay Sevens, branded as Seven Punta, is an annual international

rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally 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. R ...

tournament. Currently held in the capital

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, it was hosted as the Punta del Este Sevens in the resort city of the same name for three decades from 1989 onwards. The tournament retains that history in its branding. The event was formerly part of the

IRB Sevens World Series The SVNS, known as the HSBC SVNS for sponsorship reasons, is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World ...

for the inaugural season in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

. In recent years it has been part of the Sudamérica Sevens Series and the World Sevens Challenger Series. The tournament is organised by the Old Boys Club, usually in January or February. It attracts the participation of clubs from Uruguay and neighboring countries such as Argentina, as well as selected provincial and national teams. Internationally, it is the highest profile Uruguayan rugby event, and has attracted players of the calibre of

Jonah Lomu Jonah Tali Lomu (12 May 1975 – 18 November 2015) was a New Zealand professional rugby union player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential players in the history of the sport, and as one of the most talented sportsm ...

in the past, as well as teams like

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

and Belgium Barbarians

International sevens

The tournament was first played in 1989 and featured mostly club teams from Uruguay and Argentina in the early years. Its history as an international event grew in the 1990s when many of the best players and teams in the world travelled to Uruguay for the Seven Punta.

International 7s and World Series: 1993 to 2001

The inaugural Punta del Este International Sevens tournament in 1993 attracted teams from Australia, France, England and New Zealand, as well as neighbours Argentina and Paraguay, plus Uruguay itself as host. The final was won by

, defeating

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in a closely fought match by 26–19. Other national teams including Fiji, Tonga and Samoa were added to the field in subsequent years as the tournament grew in status. Punta del Este was included as a stop on the

1999–2000 World Sevens Series The 1999–2000 World Sevens Series was the first season of the global circuit for men's national rugby sevens teams, organised by the International Rugby Board (now known as World Rugby). The series ran from December 1999 to May 2000 and incor ...

but was dropped from the tour after the inaugural season. After one further event in 2001, won by Argentina who defeated New Zealand by 26–21 in the final, the international sevens at Punta del Este ceased. Key:
''Dark blue line indicates a tournament included in the

World Rugby Sevens Series The SVNS, known as the HSBC SVNS for sponsorship reasons, is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World ...

.''

Select teams events: 2005 and 2012

After the tournament was restarted in 2003 as an event for club teams, some national and invitational sides began to be attracted back to play against the clubs, and occasionally a parallel international tournament was included again at the Punta del Este Sevens. The first was an IRB satellite competition in 2005 which included several national teams. In 2012, an all-selection tournament for national and invitational teams was played, with Argentina defeating South Africa's academy to win the final.

International sevens: 2017 onward

From 2017 to 2019 the Seven Punta was included on the annual

Sudamérica Rugby Sevens Sudamérica Rugby Sevens, previously known as the CONSUR Sevens, is an annual rugby sevens tournament for national teams organized by Sudamérica Rugby Sudamérica Rugby (previously known as Confederación Sudamericana de Rugby (abbreviated ...

series, and contested by selected international teams. In 2020 the tournament was part of the World Sevens Challenger Series. It was relocated for the first time to

but kept the Seven Punta name. Japan won the cup final in 2020, defeating host nation Uruguay in

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

. Key:
''Light blue line indicates a tournament included in the

series.''
''Green line indicates a tournament included in the

World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series The World Rugby Sevens Challenger (formerly the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series) is an annual series of rugby sevens tournaments for national teams run by World Rugby that includes men's and women's events. Sponsored by banking group HSBC, i ...

.''

Club and invitational tournament

Early years: 1989 to 1992

The first four tournaments featured mainly South American club teams although host club Old Boys organised an invitational team known as "Anzacs Old Boys" which won the Cup in 1991 and 1992. That team featured notable players from Australia and New Zealand, including

John Eales John Anthony Eales (born 27 June 1970) is an Australian former rugby union player and the most successful captain in the history of Australian rugby. In 1999, he became one of the first players to win multiple Rugby World Cups. Early life E ...

, Jason Little,

Eric Rush Eric James Rush (born 11 February 1965) is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer and rugby sevens player, and now a supermarket owner. His New Zealand Sevens career began in 1988 and ran until 2004. Rush played in more than 60 tournaments ...

and

Frank Bunce Frank Eneri Bunce (born 4 February 1962) is a retired New Zealand rugby union player and coach. He played international rugby for both Western Samoa and New Zealand in the 1990s, appearing in the 1991 and 1995 World Cups. He played in four i ...

alongside players such as

South American South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

representative

Gabriel Travaglini Gabriel Travaglini (born in Buenos Aires, 14 February 1958) is an Argentine retired rugby union player. He played as number 8. He played for CASI for all of his entire career. As of April 2022, he is the chairman of Unión Argentina de Rugby. ...

. In 1993 the tournament became the Punta del Este International Sevens and featured selected national teams from around the world.

Gold Cup: 2003 onwards

Following a one year hiatus after the international sevens had ended in 2001, the event was restarted in 2003 as a tournament for club teams in a return to roots. For the fourteen seasons from 2003 to 2016, the tournament was contested mainly by club teams, but with the occasional national representative selections and sponsored invitational teams entered in the same division. Since 2017, club teams have competed in a separate division to international selections. A Gold Cup is awarded to the champion team. Silver and Bronze Cups were usually awarded to teams winning the lower bracket playoffs, although the minor placings in the top bracket were given recognition in 2017.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Complete Book of Rugby'' (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 )

External links

*
2019 Seven Punta site
*
2017 Seven Punta site
*

on RWC Sevens. 2008. {{World sevens series International rugby union competitions hosted by Uruguay Former World Rugby Sevens Series tournaments Punta del Este 1989 establishments in Uruguay Rugby sevens competitions in South America Recurring sporting events established in 1989