Singapore Sevens This is the Singapore leg of the IRB Sevens World Series, a rugby competition organised by the International Rugby Board (IRB). As the name implies, this is rugby played with seven rather than 15 players on each side. The IRB Sevens World Series is an annual series consisting of eight tournaments, each played in a different city. For the 2005/2006 season, tournaments were played in Dubai, South Africa, Wellington, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Singapore, Paris and London.

Singapore has played host to the series since 2002, with a break in 2003 because of the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. New Zealand won the inaugural Singapore Sevens, beating Argentina 21– 17 in the final. Since 2004, the tournament here has been called the Standard Chartered Sevens Singapore. In 2006, the two- day tournament at the National Stadium drew 16 teams and a crowd of 16,000 spectators.

In July 2006, however, the IRB announced that Singapore had failed in its bid to continue hosting the tournament; the 2006/2007 season would see Adelaide taking the place of Singapore to host a leg of the IRB Sevens World Series.

Photo credit: Singapore Press Holdings/ The Straits Times