Rugby Sevens 101- A few tips about the game
The 2012 Safaricom Sevens, the 17th since its inception in 1996, takes place from Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd September at the Nyayo National Stadium in Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi, below is a quick guide to understanding the game of sevens.
Kenya and Samurai in action at last year’s Safaricom Sevens
The game is played by 7 players on each side.
Games take place between two teams for a total of 7 minutes each way, with a 1minute half time break.
The scoring system: 5 points for a try 2 for a conversion (similar to and 3 for both penalties and drop goals
The difference is that all conversions must be taken within 40 seconds of the try being scored and must be taken as a drop goal rather than a place kick
The scoring team kicks off to the opposition
A player receiving a yellow card is sent to the sin bin for a 2 minute interval (counted as time in play, not real time) rather than 10 minutes
A penalty will result in a scrum. Scrummaging takes place between 3 forwards. These forward bind together and interlock their heads. The scrum half feeds the ball into the channel between them and retrieves the ball from the back of the scrum.
If the ball goes out of bounds a lineout occurs. Lineouts take place between two (sometimes 3) players, with a player throwing the ball back in to play.
Each team is only allowed 5 reserves per game, and can all 5 changes during the course of the game
These rule changes are brought in to keep the game fast moving and free flowing, which is considered the aim of sevens rugby.
