Sport Rugby 7s No. of teams 40+ | Founded 1989 Venue(s) Darwin, Australia | |
Formerly Territory 7s (1989-2004) Most recent
champion(s) Tabadamu
Croc Cup
Jabiru Cup
Tribe 7s | ||
The Darwin Hottest Sevens, known as the Hottest 7s in the World or the Hottest 7s, is a rugby sevens tournament held annually in Darwin, Australia on a weekend in late January. The event is sponsored by Heineken and is hosted by the Northern Territory Rugby Union. The tournament draws club teams and national teams from many countries around the world, including New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, England, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Australia.
Contents
The competition began in 1989, as the Territory Sevens, with the inaugural event being won by Fijian team, Duavata. The tournament was re-branded as the Hottest 7s in 2005, and has been supported by the Northern Territory Government since 2009. The organizers in 2013 claimed it was the richest rugby sevens tournament in the Southern Hemisphere with a prize pool of $65,000.
Format
The tournament attracts around forty to fifty teams each year. As of 2014, there were thirty-two men's teams and eight women's teams.
In the men's competition the top eight teams are seeded and eight pools of four teams each are drawn, with each team playing all others in their pool once. The top two teams from each pool advance to the Cup/Plate bracket, and the bottom two teams from each group enter the Bowl/Shield bracket. There are quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals matches in each bracket to decide the winners of the Croc Cup, Buff Plate, Barra Bowl, and Gecko Shield trophys.
For the women's competition, two pools of four teams each are drawn, with each team playing all others in their pool once to determine the seedings for the finals matches. There are quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final to decide the winner of the Jabiriu Cup.
Former winners
The Hottest Sevens tournament trophy winners are listed below (results from 1989 to 2004 are for the Territory Sevens):