sevens is a form of rugby union which involves 7 players per team rather than 15 in the regular game. the games are 7 minutes per half (10 minutes in a competition final) rather than 40 minutes per half in the 15-man game. the new zealand sevens team compete in the world rugby sevens series, the sevens world cup, and the commonwealth games sevens. the new zealand sevens team were undefeated in the sevens events in the commonwealth games until 2014, when south africa defeated them in the final. since the inception of the sevens series in 1999–2000, the new zealand sevens team have dominated the series, winning the first six seasons of the competition (2000–2005) and 12 times in all, most recently in 2014.