sport 2009 rugby world cup sevens
The ___MASK8___ World Cup Sevens is the premier stand - alone international ___MASK8___ sevens competition . The event is organised by the sport ' s governing body , World ___MASK8___ ( WR ), and is contested every four years with tournaments for men ' s and women ' s national teams co - hosted at the same venues . The inaugural tournament was held in 1993 in Scotland , the birthplace of ___MASK8___ sevens . The winners of the men ' s tournament are awarded the Melrose Cup , named after the Scottish town of Melrose where the first ___MASK8___ sevens game was played . The women ' s tournament was inaugurated at the 2009 ___MASK8___ World Cup Sevens held in Dubai . World ___MASK8___ ( WR ) is the world governing body for the sport of ___MASK96___ . World ___MASK8___ organises the ___MASK8___ World Cup every four years , the sport ' s most recognised and most profitable competition . It also organises a number of other international rugby competitions , such as the World ___MASK8___ Sevens Series , the World Under 20 Championship , and the Pacific Nations Cup . England is a country that is part of the ___MASK87___ . It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west . The Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest . England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south . The country covers five - eighths of the island of Great Britain ( which lies in the North Atlantic ) in its centre and south ; and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly , and the Isle of Wight . ___MASK8___ sevens is a variant of ___MASK96___ in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven - minute halves , instead of the usual 15 players playing 40 - minute halves . ___MASK8___ sevens is administered by World ___MASK8___ , the body responsible for ___MASK96___ worldwide . The game is popular at all levels , with amateur and club tournaments generally held in the summer months . Sevens is one of the most well distributed forms of rugby , and is popular in parts of Africa , Asia , Europe , and the Americas , and especially in the South Pacific . ___MASK8___ sevens is commonly referred to by ___MASK96___ media and fans as simply " sevens ". Scotland ( Scots : ) is a country that is part of the ___MASK87___ and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain . It shares a border with England to the south , and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean , with the North Sea to the east and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the south - west . In addition to the mainland , the country is made up of more than 790 islands , including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides . ___MASK96___ , or simply rugby , is a contact team sport which originated in England in the first half of the 19th century . One of the two codes of rugby football , it is based on running with the ball in hand . In its most common form , a game is between two teams of 15 players using an oval - shaped ball on a rectangular field with H - shaped goalposts on each try line . The ___MASK8___ World Cup is a men ' s ___MASK96___ tournament contested every four years between the top international teams . The tournament was first held in 1987 , when the tournament was co - hosted by New Zealand and Australia . New Zealand are the current champions , having defeated Australia in the final of the 2015 tournament in England . Wales is a country that is part of the ___MASK87___ and the island of Great Britain . It is bordered by England to the east , the Irish Sea to the north and west , and the Bristol Channel to the south . It had a population in 2011 of 3 , 063 , 456 and has a total area of . Wales has over of coastline and is largely mountainous , with its higher peaks in the north and central areas , including Snowdon , its highest summit . The country lies within the north temperate zone and has a changeable , maritime climate . The Melrose Cup is the main prize of the ___MASK8___ World Cup Sevens . The trophy is named after the town of Melrose , Scotland , the birthplace of ___MASK8___ sevens . The trophy has been presented to the winner of the world cup since the inaugural tournament in 1993 . The only teams to have held the trophy are England , Wales , Fiji and current cup holders New Zealand . The 2009 ___MASK8___ Sevens World Cup was the fifth edition of the ___MASK8___ World Cup Sevens . The International ___MASK8___ Board ( IRB ) selected Dubai in the United Arab Emirates as the host venue for the tournament ahead of bids from four other countries . The format included nine direct qualifiers and a further fifteen qualifiers from all six regions defined by the IRB . A women ' s version of the world cup was also held alongside the men ' s tournament for the first time and featured sixteen teams . The men ' s cup was won by Wales , with the women ' s cup going to Australia . The men ' s teams of Fiji , New Zealand and Australia , who entered the semi - finals in the two previous editions , failed to do so in 2009 : the former were defeated by quarter - finals Kenya and Wales respectively , whereas Australia lost two of the three matches in the pool stage and did not advance to quarter - finals . Wales , which had never reached quarter - finals in the previous editions of the World Cup , beat Samoa in semi - finals and Argentina in the final to win the tournament . Kenya had never reached the Cup or Plate stages before , but shared 3rd place in 2009 . The ___MASK87___ of Great Britain and Northern Ireland , commonly known as the ___MASK87___ ( UK ) or Britain , is a sovereign country in western Europe . Lying off the north - western coast of the European mainland , it includes the island of Great Britain ( the name of which is also loosely applied to the whole country ), the north - eastern part of the island of Ireland , and many smaller islands . Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign statethe Republic of Ireland . Apart from this land border , the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean , with the North Sea to its east , the English Channel to its south and the Celtic Sea to its south - south - west , giving it the 12th - longest coastline in the world . The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland . With an area of , the UK is the 78th - largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th - largest in Europe . It is also the 21st - most populous country , with an estimated 65 . 1 million inhabitants . Together , this makes it the fourth most densely populated country in the European Union .