The Snelling Sevens (also known as the Snelling Seven-a-Side Trophy and originally known as the Welsh Seven-a-Side Tournament) was an annual Welsh Rugby Union sevens competition that ran from 1954 until 1995.
The tournament was inaugurated in 1954 and the trophy presented by the Chairman of Newport Athletic Club, Reg Snelling, after whom the competition is named. The competition took place over a single day, and was originally a straightforward knockout tournament between 16 teams, with the initial draw taking place prior to the match day. The teams invited were the premier South Wales teams, but occasionally if a team was on tour at the time clubs were invited from other areas, including English teams such as Leicester and Bath. Ebbw Vale won the tournament in 1958. The squad included G Powell, M Williams, F Matthews, R Morgan, D Ackerman, D Barrett, R Evans, K Cameron, J Pugh. 1967 saw the introduction of the Bill Everson Award for the Man of the Tournament Trophy. In 1979, the competition changed format from a purely knockout tournament to a pool system with four groups of four teams followed by knockout rounds.
Despite the competition's popularity from the 1950s to the 1970s, crowds diminished from 50,000 at its peak to around 5,000 by the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1995, the competition was renamed as the "Worthington Sevens", but it was decided that, due to the congested timetables of the clubs involved, the tournament should cease to be held. The trophy was awarded permanently to Newport as the most successful club in the competition's history.
Finals SeasonWinnersLosing FinalistsScoreVenueEverson Award1954NewportEbbw Vale6–0Newport Athletic Club1955CardiffNewport8–3Rodney Parade1956NewportPenarth5–3St Helens1957NewportAbertillery11–8St Helens1958Ebbw ValeNewport10–5Cardiff Arms Park1959NewportPontypool6–3Rodney Parade1960LlanelliPenarth14–10Cardiff Arms Park1961NewportPontypool8–3Cardiff Arms Park1962NewportNeath19–3St Helens1963NewportBridgend8–0Cardiff Arms Park1964NeathCardiff10–5Cardiff Arms Park1965NewportNewbridge9–8St Helens1966CardiffNewport23–20Cardiff Arms Park1967NewportCardiff21–15Cardiff Arms ParkDavid Watkins1968BridgendPontypool13–10Cardiff Arms ParkJ.J. Williams1969CardiffLlanelli17–13Cardiff Arms ParkBarry John1970NeathEbbw Vale18–8Cardiff Arms ParkDavid Parker1971LlanelliNewport31–10Cardiff Arms ParkJohn Thomas1972CardiffBridgend15–4Cardiff Arms ParkJohn Davies1973LlanelliNewbridge52–6Cardiff Arms ParkRoy Bergiers1974BridgendSwansea30–14Cardiff Arms ParkVivian Jenkins1975BridgendCardiff32–12Cardiff Arms ParkStuart Lane1976CardiffNewport18–8Cardiff Arms ParkChris Camilleri1977CardiffNewport24–16Cardiff Arms ParkJohn Churchill1978BridgendCardiff38–16Cardiff Arms ParkGareth Powell Williams1979LlanelliEbbw Vale26–16Cardiff Arms ParkPeter Morgan1980BridgendNewport24–16Cardiff Arms ParkGary Pierce1981CardiffLeicester20–6Cardiff Arms ParkGwynfor Williams1982SwanseaEbbw Vale44–6Cardiff Arms ParkJeff Herdman1983CardiffAbertillery44–6Rodney ParadeAdrian Parry1984CardiffNewport30–12Rodney ParadeMark Ring1985NewportGlamorgan Wanderers43–0Rodney ParadeSteve Pill1986Glamorgan WanderersCardiff30–6Rodney ParadeNick Ward1987BridgendNewport34–12Rodney ParadeAled Williams1988LlanelliSouth Wales Police40–4Rodney ParadeJonathan Davies1989SwanseaBridgend22–16Rodney ParadeMark Titley1990NewbridgeBridgend20–14Rodney ParadeDavid Rees1991SwanseaBridgend20–18Rodney ParadeChris Bradshaw1992NewbridgeSwansea28–24Cardiff Arms ParkDavid Manley1993South Wales PolicePontypridd24–14Cardiff Arms ParkRichie Collins1994BathCardiff42–5Cardiff Arms ParkAudley Lumsden1995SwanseaBridgend29–28Cardiff Arms ParkRobert Howley
External links Official site of the Snelling Seven-A-Side Tournament