The Mar del Plata Sevens (''Seven de Mar del Plata'' in
Spanish) is an international
rugby sevens competition played in
Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a s ...
,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
since 1995. The tournament was one of the events in the
World Rugby Sevens Series
The World Rugby Men's Sevens Series 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 Sevens Series, the com ...
in 2000 and 2002.
Men's tournament
International 7s and World Series: 1995 to 2002
Inspired by the success of Uruguay's
Punta del Este Sevens
The Uruguay Sevens, branded as Seven Punta, is an annual international rugby sevens tournament. Currently held in the capital Montevideo, it was hosted as the Punta del Este Sevens in the resort city of the same name for three decades from 1989 ...
, which hosted many of the world's best teams during the 1990s, the Argentine Rugby Union introduced an international tournament of their own in 1995. The inaugural Mar del Plata International Sevens
was won by
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, defeating
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), 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 ...
in a closely matched final by 26–21.
[ In 2000, the tournament was included in World Sevens Series I, the first edition of the worldwide circuit for seven-a-side rugby.][ The following year Mar del Plata was host of the Rugby World Cup Sevens.
Key:]
''Dark blue line: tournament included in the World Rugby Sevens Series
The World Rugby Men's Sevens Series 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 Sevens Series, the com ...
.''
Selected teams invitational event: 2003 onward
After 2002, when no longer on the World Sevens circuit, the international sevens tournament at Mar del Plata was contested by invited national teams – mainly from the Americas but some further afield – as well as by selected and invitational sides (mostly representative teams from Argentina).
During this era, the international tournament was sometimes hosted in conjunction with other competitions featuring national teams. This was the case in 2010 when the schedule included the Sudamérica Rugby Sevens, and teams from that tournament were joined by other select sides including from United States and South Africa to contest the Mar del Plata international sevens title.[ In 2015, Mar del Plata hosted a ]Pan American Games
The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...
qualification event alongside the international sevens tournament.[
Winners since 2010 (details might not be complete):
]
Club and Invitational
Women's tournament
Winners since 2014 (details might not be complete):
Notes
References
External links
Rugby Mar del Plata
– website of the tournament host
{{Rugby union in Argentina
Former World Rugby Sevens Series tournaments
Mar del Plata
International rugby union competitions hosted by Argentina
Rugby sevens competitions in South America
Recurring sporting events established in 2000