Photo: Rugby.com.au / Karen Watson

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The Aon University Sevens Series will build on the success of its inaugural competition with the addition of three extra teams over the next two years.

Contested between eight teams in 2017, newcomers University of Melbourne and University of Sydney will join reigning champions University of Queensland, alongside Bond University, Griffith University, University of New England, Macquarie University, University of Canberra, University of Adelaide and University of Tasmania for this year’s competition.

Then in 2019, the University of Western Australia will also join the series to expand it to an 11-team competition, and increase the tournament’s national footprint.

“After such a successful inaugural year of the Aon Uni Sevens Series, we saw an immediate opportunity to expand the competition and have two very strong new additions in the University of Sydney and University of Melbourne for 2018,” said Rugby Australia General Manager High Performance, Ben Whitaker.

“The outcome is that we will have a stronger competition with more opportunities for players to compete across the ten teams, which has benefits for the competition as well as for our national women’s Sevens program.

“We were really impressed with the University of Western Australia’s bid, and in line with our medium-to-long-term strategy we have confirmed their admission in 2019,” he added. “We will work closely with UWA and RugbyWA to ensure they are set up for success in 2019 and beyond. UWA’s inclusion ensures the Aon University Sevens Series is a truly national competition.”

The 2018 Aon University Sevens Series kicks off later this year, with the draw to be confirmed in the coming weeks.