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 early October. The event is sponsored by Heineken and is hosted by the Northern Territory Rugby Union.[1] The tournament draws club teams and national teams from many countries around the world, including New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, England, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Australia.[2][3]
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.[1] The organisers in 2013 claimed it was the richest rugby sevens tournament in the Southern Hemisphere with a prize pool of $65,000.[3] The tournament was cancelled in 2020,[4] but returned in 2021.
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.[5][6]
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 trophies.[5]
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.[6]
Winners
The Hottest Sevens tournament trophy winners are listed below (results from 1989 to 2004 are for the Territory Sevens):[7][8]
^"Tournament winners". Hottest 7s. 27 January 2014. Archived from the original on 4 May 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)