Characteristics of winning men’s and women’s sevens rugby teams throughout the knockout Cup stages of international tournaments

Identification of game variables associated with success in men’s and women’s sevens rugby tournaments is required to assist in tactical preparation for future competition. The aim of this study was to analyse the game variables associated with winning teams in knockout Cup games and identify if winning characteristics are gender specific. All quarter final and semi-final games from the men’s (n=54) and women’s (n=30) 2014 World Sevens Series tournaments were analysed using a set of game variables associated with sevens performance. Comparisons between teams were examined through a series of Mann Whitney U Tests and Independent t-tests (p<0.05). Results revealed differences between winning and losing teams in restarts, passing effectiveness, line breaks, missed tackles and tries scored. Winning women’s teams gained more possession from handling turnovers, utilised more quick lineouts, had less ineffective set lineouts, threw more passes and made more ball-jolting-tackles than losing women’s teams. Winning men’s teams utilised non-contested restarts more frequently, won a higher percentage of contested restarts, had more scrum feeds and made more effective tackles than losing men’s teams. It was identified that there are variables associated with success for both men’s and women’s teams and variables that are gender specific.