What Are the Positions in Rugby Sevens?

Rugby 7s positions are seven of the same roles as fifteens, played by seven players instead of fifteen. Three forwards — prop, hooker, prop — then a scrum-half, a fly-half, a centre and a wing. Squads are numbered 1 to 12, so unlike fifteens the shirt number does not tell you the position.

This page is the sevens spoke off rugby positions, which covers all fifteen shirts of the full game and the numbering that goes with them.

What are the seven positions in rugby sevens?

The seven roles keep their fifteens names and their fifteens jobs at the set piece. What changes is everything between set pieces: with half the players on the same field, every role attacks and defends the full width.

The one column you will not find is a shirt number. Sevens squads wear 1 to 12 in any order, so the table maps each role to its nearest fifteens shirt instead — that mapping is real, the numbering is not.

What is the Four-Point Sevens Conversion?

The Four-Point Sevens Conversion is what actually changes when a fifteens player moves to the seven-a-side game.

1. Seven roles, not fifteen. Three forwards and four backs; nothing is specialised out of the game.
2. Numbers 1 to 12, and the shirt tells you nothing. The fifteens number-to-position map does not apply.
3. Everyone tackles, everyone runs.The size bands narrow at both ends — there is nowhere on the field to hide a specialist.
4. Restarts are possession. The team that scores kicks off, so a converted try is immediately a contest for the ball.

How are rugby sevens players numbered?

Sevens squads are numbered 1 to 12: seven starters and up to five replacements, in whatever order the squad was named. There is no law that ties a number to a role, which is why “what number is the fly-half in sevens” has no answer. The fifteens game is the opposite — the number map at rugby positions tells you the job from the shirt alone.

Do sevens forwards and backs mean the same thing?

Forwards and backs mean the same thing in sevens, just narrower: the three forwards contest the scrum, the lineout and the restart, and the four backs organise the field around them. The difference is that a sevens forward spends most of the match doing back things — running, passing and tackling in space.

What is the difference between rugby sevens and fifteens?

Sevens is played under the fifteen-a-side laws with a short list of variations. Every row below is verified against World Rugby’s published seven-a-side law variations.

One more that only shows up in knockouts: if a sevens match that needs a winner is drawn, extra time is sudden death — play restarts after a one-minute break in periods of up to five minutes, and the first score of any kind wins the match.

What are the rules of rugby 7s?

There is no separate law book. World Rugby publishes the rugby union 7s rules as a set of variations to the fifteen-a-side laws — the table above is that list, in the order a player feels it. Everything it does not mention works exactly as in fifteens: rugby sevens rules keep the ruck, the maul, the lineout, offside and the tackle as they are. So the honest answer to “what are the rules for rugby 7s” is: the rules you already know, at twice the speed, with half the rest.

Which sevens position should you play?

Start from what you already do in fifteens, because the seven roles map onto the fifteen. The frame-first version of this lookup is rugby positions body types — sevens simply narrows its bands at both ends.

Which sevens position suits a forward?

Back-rowers convert best: a fifteens flanker or number 8 already lives on repeat efforts, tackles in space and support lines, which is the whole sevens forward job. Props and locks who move well become sevens props; a hooker who throws accurately keeps that job, because the lineout still needs winning.

Which sevens position suits a back?

Scrum-halves and fly-halves keep their names and their jobs. Fifteens centres and wings compete for three shirts — centre and wing — on acceleration and one-on-one tackling, and a fifteens fullback usually plays sevens wing, where the backfield coverage and the high-ball work carry straight over.

How do you train for rugby sevens?

Train the repeat effort, not the single one. A sevens half is seven minutes of near-continuous running, so the engine that matters is the one that produces the eighth sprint, the fifth tackle and the third restart chase at the same quality as the first. Build it with conditioning blocks structured for rugby — ERA’s fitnessprogramming is built around exactly that repeat-effort demand — and keep the drop-kick in the plan: in sevens, every back converts.

Where to find out more

The authoritative source for every law difference on this page is World Rugby’s seven-a-side law variations, published law by law on the World Rugby Passport. When a tournament looks different from the table above, that page is the tiebreaker.

Frequently asked questions