The London sevens is the English leg of the IRB's world seven series. It is based at Twickenham every year and is one of the best supported of all the tournaments. It was also a 'founder member' of the IRB sevens back in 1999.
The London Sevens (or officially England Sevens) It is also the 'home leg' of the English rugby team, one of the most successful of the international sevens sides. The sevens side has provided the full international team with a number of players who were to win honors, including the likes of Austin Healy, David Strettle and Matthew Tait.
The full, 15 a side team has a proud tradition of its own, with numerous grand slams to its name, as well as a 2003 World Cup win out in Australia... and two beaten finals in 1991 and 2007 that are less fondly remembered.
With this leg being based in Twickenham, or 'HQ' as it is known by many England rugby fans, the IRB sevens gets to play out of the largest purpose built rugby stadium in the world, with a massive capacity of 82,000.
Twickenham has played host to a World Cup final in 1991, and world cup semi finals and quarter finals on other occasions. It has a long and interesting past as a rugby stadium, including a job as a cabbage patch before the land was developed as a rugby stadium, surely making it one of the most famous former cabbage patches in the world.
To cope with the numbers that it is able to hold Twickenham has developed some top class public transport links, including a train station and free buses running from Richmond. On top of this, there is the still traditional picnic in 'Twickers' car park, with hampers a luxury many people like to indulge in.
The tournament, as with the others in the IRB world sevens series (aside from Hong Kong) has 16 teams competing for the Cup, with those that lose transferred into various lesser competitions known as the Plater, the Bowl and the Shield respectively.
Being based in London means that any fans traveling to this tournament will be sure to be able to find something else to do should they wish to prolong their stay. Such delights as the London Eye, the national gallery and numerous sporting events and stadiums abound, there is never any reason to be bored in London.
