The Wales national rugby sevens team competes 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 ...

, the Rugby World Cup Sevens and in the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

were the World Cup Sevens Champions after winning the

2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 2009 Rugby Sevens World Cup was the fifth edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected Dubai in the United Arab Emirates as the host venue for the tournament ahead of bids from four other countries. The f ...

in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

. But they relinquished that title after failing to defend their crown at the

2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens The 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens was the sixth edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens. The tournament was held at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia. New Zealand won the tournament, defeating England 33–0 in the final. Attendance for the tourname ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. The Welsh sevens squad was disbanded by the

Welsh Rugby Union The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; cy, Undeb Rygbi Cymru) is the Sports governing body, governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby. The WRU is responsible for the running ...

due to financial constraints. After a three-year absence, the Wales sevens team returned to international competition in the 2006–07 season.BBC SPORT , Rugby Union , Internationals , Wales Sevens back for Melbourne
/ref> They competed at half of the eight tournaments and won the plate competition (fifth place) at each of them. They repeated this feat at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

. The star of the 2005–06 squad was Neath RFC and

Ospreys The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

player

James Hook James Hook may refer to: * Captain Hook, the villain of J. M. Barrie's play and novel ''Peter Pan'' * James Hook (composer) (1746–1827), English composer and organist * James Hook (priest) (1771–1828), English priest, Dean of Worcester * Jame ...

. Hook later progressed to the Wales national 15-a-side team. In 2006–07, Wales competed in the Dubai, South Africa, Australia, Hong Kong, Scotland and England legs of the IRB's World Sevens Series, reaching the semi-finals of the cup at

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

and Murrayfield. Wales have been a core team that has competed in all legs of the IRB Sevens Series since the 2007–08 season. At the

2016 USA Sevens The 2016 USA Sevens (also sometimes referred to as the 2016 Las Vegas Sevens) is the thirteenth edition of the USA Sevens tournament, and the fifth tournament of the 2015–16 World Rugby Sevens Series. The tournament was played on 4–6 March 201 ...

, Wales beat Canada, Portugal, Scotland and France to win the Bowl final and claim 9th place.

Tournament history

Rugby World Cup Sevens

Commonwealth Games

2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens

In Wales's first ever cup final appearance in a major rugby sevens event, Wales played Argentina in the 2009 World Cup Final. In the Group stages Wales beat Zimbabwe 31–5 and Uruguay 27–0 before losing to Argentina 14–0 in the final pool match, leaving Wales uncertain of a cup quarterfinals spot. With results going their way Wales made it to the cup quarterfinals as one of the second place qualifiers for the first time in their history. Wales beat favourites New Zealand in the quarterfinals 15–14, and defeated Samoa in the semifinals 19–12. Wales faced Argentina for the second time in the tournament in the Final. Wales started with the same team that played against New Zealand and Samoa earlier in the day. At half time Wales had a lead of 12–7 after tries from

Richie Pugh Richie Pugh (born 10 August 1983) is Wales international rugby union player who plays at openside flanker. Pugh was born in Swansea and attended Brynmill primary and Bishop Gore Comprehensive schools before going on to study Sports Science at ...

and

Tal Selley Taliesin Selley (born 20 April 1980) is a Welsh former rugby union footballer, who played either at centre or on the wing. After five seasons at the Llanelli Scarlets he signed a three-year deal with the Ospreys where he played in the histori ...

. In the second half Argentina levelled the score at 12–12. With less than 90 seconds left, Wales's

Aled Thomas Aled Thomas (born 2 January 1985) is a Welsh rugby union player. A fly-half, who plays for the Scarlets in the Pro14. Aled Thomas first joined the Scarlets in 2004, making his first appearance in the Celtic League match against Ulster in Rave ...

scored underneath the posts and with a successful conversion put Wales into the lead at 19–12. Argentina claimed the restart. After the siren sounded to indicate there was no time left on the clock Argentina fumbled the ball in a ruck leading to the ball being kicked out of play and Wales being crowned the 2009 Sevens Rugby World Cup Champions.

2009 World Cup winning squad

The 12-man squad, coached by Paul John of Pontypridd, for the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens.

World Rugby Sevens Series record

Team

Current squad

Notable former players

* Lee Byrne * Taliesin Selley *

Jason Forster Jason Alistaire Forster (born 25 February 1971, in Derby)
Scrum.com is a former international

Rhys Oakley Rhys Oakley (born 16 September 1980 in Plymouth) is a former professional rugby union footballer who played as a number eight. Oakley began his professional career with Bristol Rugby, before moving to the Newport Gwent Dragons, Leeds Tykes, Nor ...

Robin Sowden-Taylor Robin Sowden-Taylor (born 9 June 1982) is a Welsh international rugby player. Sowden-Taylor won his first Wales cap in the win over Italy in 2005 as part of the squad that won the Grand Slam that year. He was also a member of the 2008 Grand Sla ...

Josh Turnbull Joshua "Josh" Turnbull (born 12 March 1988) is a Welsh international rugby union player, who currently plays in the Back row and Second row for Cardiff Rugby in the Pro14 league having previously played for the Scarlets, Llanelli RFC and Lla ...

Andy Powell Andrew Powell (born 19 February 1950) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is a founding member of the British band Wishbone Ash, whose use of twin lead guitars was influential. Early life and career Powell was born in the East E ...

Wayne Proctor Wayne Thomas Proctor (12 June 1972) is a former Wales international rugby union footballer, who was a winger/full-back for Wales, Llanelli RFC and subsequently the Llanelli Scarlets. A former Welsh schools international athlete, Proctor repres ...

Alex Cuthbert Alex Cuthbert (born 5 April 1990) is a Welsh rugby union player. Born in Gloucester, he plays on the wing for the Ospreys and the Wales national team. Early life Born in Gloucester, Cuthbert went to Newent Community School. He gained a diplom ...

David Evans David, Dave, or Dai Evans may refer to: Academics * Sir David Emrys Evans (1891–1966), Welsh classicist and university principal * David Evans (microbiologist) (1909–1984), British microbiologist * David Stanley Evans (1916–2004), British a ...

* James Davies

Notable former coaches

* Dai Rees * Colin Hillman *

Gareth Baber Gareth Baber (born 23 May 1972) is a Welsh former rugby player and now a rugby union coach. He is best known for coaching and leading the Fiji sevens team to win their second gold medal in rugby sevens at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He coached Fij ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wales national rugby sevens team National rugby sevens teams

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