This study aimed to reveal variations in attacking tactics related to changes in the source of tries in top-level men's sevens rugby worldwide. Analysed 338 matches from the 2020 and 2024 seasons of the Men's World Rugby Sevens Series, comparing play frequency and attacking success between the seasons. Results revealed that tap kicks decreased in both average frequency per match and the percentage of play selections in penalty kicks (PKs). However, tap kicks that were restarted within 5 seconds increased, accounting for 60% of all tap kicks. In 2024, try rates significantly decreased when the restart time exceeded 10 seconds, a trend not observed in 2020. Conversely, scrums increased in average frequency per match and in the percentage of play selections in PKs. There was a higher priority for selecting scrums in PKs in the opposition's central area. Regarding attacking success, the percentage of attempts with one pass or fewer increased significantly for tries in the 1st-phase attack. Furthermore, during situations with numerical imbalances, scrums became significantly more frequent and were the primary source of tries for the team with more players, as indicated by the percentage of their try-scoring plays. The results suggest that in recent years, sevens rugby attacking strategies have been intended for situations when the team's defence is ineffective or unable to function.
