Rules & Laws

Rules of the Tournament

1. There will be 20 teams in 5 Pools of 4 teams each.
2. All decisions regarding the seeding of teams shall be the sole responsibility of the Tournament Organisers.
3. Play will begin with teams playing each of the other teams within their Pool.
4. In each Pool game, 3 points will be awarded for a win, one point for a draw. No extra time to determine a winner will be played.
5. On completion of Pool games there will be:
6. a qualifying round of matches among the top 16 teams, the winners of which will progress to the Cup competition with the losers playing off in the Plate competition. The remaining 4 teams will progress straight to the Bowl Competition.

Then -

7. the Cup and Plate competitions will go forward into a knock-out series of quarter and semi-finals to reach their Event Finals.
8. teams for the Bowl Event will go forward to their semi-finals and Final.
9. The ‘Top 16’ teams will be the top three teams from each Pool plus the best-placed fourth team determined by:
10. highest number of points scored in their Pool matches, or;
11. the team which has the highest points differential (points “for” less points “against”) in their Pool games, or;
12. the team who scores the most tries in their Pool games, or;
13. the team who scores the most converted tries in their Pool games, or if still even, then,:
14. the best-placed side(s) will be decided by the toss of a coin.
15. When there is a tie at full time in any of the Cup, Plate or Bowl Championship games, except in the Finals, the scorer of the first try will be the winner. If there are no tries scored, then the scorer of the first points will be the winner. In the event of a nil-nil draw, the winner will be determined by the toss of a coin. In a Final of the Cup, Plate or Bowl, extra time in periods of five minutes with a one-minute break between will be played. The team scoring first in extra time will be declared the winner.
16. The duration of all Pool, Quarter and Semi-final games will be 7 minutes each way, with a two-minute interval at half time. The duration of the finals for the Cup, Plate and Bowl Championships will be 10 minutes each way, with a two-minute interval at half time. Time will be added for injury and other lost time stoppages at the discretion of the Referee.
17. Players may take liquids during play provided by a team official other than the coach only from the touch line. There is to be no time out for this purpose and the game is not to be interrupted in any way.
18. Each side shall be comprised of up to 7 players on the playing area at any time selected from the Registered Team List of 12 team members. The team list must be registered as in Rule 12. below.
19. The Registered Team List, complete with team member’s name, jersey number and signature, must be handed to the Tournament Marshall 30 minutes before the team’s first match. This list cannot be changed without the approval of the Tournament Marshall and will remain with him until the end of the Tournament.
20. All team playing jerseys must be clearly numbered using contrasting colours whether on the back or the sleeve and players must play in the same number throughout the Tournament
21. A team which can only field 7 or less players will not be permitted to enter the Tournament however before a team’s first match, if a team borrows players to complete their player’s list, then those ‘borrowed’ players must remain playing with that team only and must be registered as in Rule 12. above.
22. During the ‘knock-out phase’ of the Tournament and subject to the Tournament Marshall’s approval, a team may borrow a maximum of 2 players to replace injured members, but only from teams which have already been eliminated from the Tournament and who have played in the same knock-out competition as themselves (ie. Cup, Plate or Bowl) or in a lower level competition. A player in this circumstance must continue playing for his ‘new’ team for the remainder of the Tournament.
23. An exception to the above occurs where a team registers less than the number of players permitted to play (ie 12) in the Tournament, then replacements during the ‘knock-out phase’ will only be permitted to replace injured players from the original, registered, players list.
24. The Tournament Marshall will endorse all changes to a team’s original player’s list and any unauthorised changes may result in a team’s disqualification.

Laws of the Tournament

The Tournament will be played under the Laws of the Game of Rugby Football as framed by the International Rugby Board (2007 Edition) and the iRB Seven-a-Side Variations (2007), with the following exceptions:

1. IRB Law 3.Teams may nominate no more than 5 replacement / substitutes. Only 3 may be used per game. A substituted player may not return to a match even to replace an injured player, except for a blood bin.
2. Law 6C 2. During play, only medically trained persons, with the consent of the Referee, will be allowed to enter the playing area. However, at the interval, officials and non-playing members of the team will also be allowed to enter the playing area.
3. All touch judges are referees, appointed to assist the Bangkok Sevens Organising Committee. Laws 6B and 10 will be applied in relation to the reporting of foul play or misconduct.
4. Law 9.B.1. After a try has been scored the kick at goal must be a drop kick and must be taken within 30 seconds of the try having been scored. The kick will be disallowed if the kicker does not take the kick in the time allowed.
5. All penalty kicks at goal to be drop-kicks.
6. Kickoff & Re-starts. All kickoffs and restarts to be drop-kicks with off-side offences by the kicker’s team and kicking the ball dead , or the ball being made dead in-goal immediately by the receiving team, to be a free kick to the receiving team at the center.
7. A player sent off by a Referee under Law 10 will not play again in the Tournament. The Referee will send a written report to the Constituent Body of the Rugby Union to which the player’s team belongs.
8. The sin-bin will be used throughout the Tournament. A player sin-binned, shall remain at the half-way line under Referee control for 2 minutes. The sin-bin will not replace a situation where a player is sent off under Law 10.
9. Any team found in breach of these Rules & Laws may be disqualified from further participation in the Tournament.
10. The Laws of the Tournament, including their interpretation and any additional Laws, Rules and Regulations are at the sole discretion of the Tournament Organisers, whose decision shall be final.