7s and length of halves

Dickie E


Referees in Australia
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Around 5 or 6 years ago the elite 7s guys did away with 10 minute halves for the Cup game for safety reasons. The rationale was that stats showed a disproportionate number of injuries occurred after the 7 minute mark.

My understanding was that this flowed on to all 7s tournaments.

However, the law still says this (my bold):
Sevens variation
A match lasts 14 minutes (split into two halves, each of not more than seven minutes) plus time lost. When a drawn match requires extra-time, play restarts after a one-minute break with periods of no more than five minutes. After each period, the teams change ends without an interval.
A competition final match may last no longer than 20 minutes (split into two halves, each of not more than 10 minutes) plus lost time and extra-time.


Can anyone shed any light on the situation? Is it left to individual tournament organisers to decide?
 
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