2019–20 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series

The 2019–20 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series was the eighth edition of the global circuit for women's national rugby sevens teams, organised by World Rugby.

World Rugby
Women's Sevens Series VIII
Hosts
Date5 October 2019 – 2 February 2020
Final positions
Champions New Zealand
Runners-up Australia
Third Canada
Series details
Top try scorerStacey Fluhler (31)
Top point scorerAlev Kelter (171)
(cancelled) 2021
2021–22

Only five of the originally scheduled eight tournaments were completed before the series was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] New Zealand was awarded the series title at the end of June 2020, on account of it leading by 16 points over the second-placed Australia.[2]

The events planned for Hong Kong,[3] Langford and Paris were postponed,[4] before eventually being cancelled.[2]

Format

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Twelve nations competed at each event,[5] drawn into three pools of four teams.[6] The top-placed teams after the pool matches at each tournament played off for a Cup, with gold, silver and bronze medals also awarded to the first three teams.[7] The winner of the series was determined by the overall points standings gained across all events in the season.[8]

Teams

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The eleven "core teams" qualified to participate in all series events for 2019–20 were:

Brazil was promoted to core team status after winning the World Series qualifier held in Hong Kong in 2019,[9] replacing China who were relegated after finishing as the lowest-placed core team in 2018–19.

Tour venues

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The original itinerary for the 2019–20 women's circuit included three new legs to be played in Cape Town,[10] Hamilton and Hong Kong,[11] although only the first two were able to be played. The women's Tokyo Sevens was not included in the series due to the Olympic Sevens being scheduled there instead.

After all tournaments planned for the second quarter of 2020 were cancelled, the series was reduced from eight legs to five. All but one of the completed legs were combined sevens tournaments with their corresponding events from the men's World Series,[12][13] with only the Glendale tournament hosted as a stand-alone women's event.[14]

2019–20 Itinerary
Leg Stadium City Dates Winner
United States Infinity Park Glendale (Denver) 5–6 October 2019   United States
Dubai The Sevens Dubai 5–7 December 2019   New Zealand
South Africa Cape Town Stadium Cape Town 13–15 December 2019   New Zealand
New Zealand Waikato Stadium Hamilton 25–26 January 2020   New Zealand
Australia Bankwest Stadium[15] Sydney 1–2 February 2020   New Zealand

The tournaments planned for Hong Kong (3–5 April 2020), Langford (2–3 May 2020) and Paris (30–31 May 2020),[16] were ultimately cancelled due to health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2]

Standings

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Official standings for the 2019–20 series:

2019–20 World Rugby Women's Sevens
Series VIII
 
Pos
Event 
Team
 
Glen­dale
 
Dubai
 
Cape Town
 
Hamil­ton
 
Sydney
Points
total
1   New Zealand 16 20 20 20 20 96
2   Australia 18 14 18 14 16 80[a]
3   Canada 10 18 16 18 18 80[a]
4   France 14 12 14 16 14 70
5   United States 20 16 12 12 6 66
6   Russia 8 10 6 8 8 40
7   Fiji 2 8 10 6 12 38
8   England 4 4 8 10 10 36
9   Spain 12 6 4 3 3 28
10   Ireland 6 3 2 2 2 15
11   Japan 3 1 4 8
12   Brazil[b] 1 2 1 1 1 6
13   China 4 4
14   South Africa 3 3

Source: World Rugby

Legend
No colour Core team in 2019–20 and re-qualified as a core team for the next World Rugby Women's Sevens Series
Yellow Invitational team

Placings summary

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Tallies of top four tournament placings during the 2019–20 series, by team:

Team   Gold   Silver   Bronze Fourth Total
  New Zealand 4 1 5
  United States 1 1 2
  Canada 3 1 4
  Australia 2 1 2 5
  France 1 3 4
Totals 5 5 5 5 20

Tournaments

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Glendale

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   United States 26–7   Australia   New Zealand (Bronze)
  France
5th Place   Spain 12–7   Canada   Russia
  Ireland
Challenge Trophy   England 36–14   Japan   Brazil
  Fiji

Dubai*

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   New Zealand 17–14   Canada   United States (Bronze)
  Australia
9th Place   England 26–21   Ireland -
11th Place   Brazil 14-12   Japan -

Cape Town*

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   New Zealand 17–7   Australia   Canada (Bronze)
  France
9th Place   Spain 19–7   South Africa -
11th Place   Ireland 26-7   Brazil -

* 5th Place and Challenge Trophy not contested

Players

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Tries scored

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Rank Player Tries
1   Stacey Fluhler 31
2   Ellia Green 26
3   Alev Kelter 21
4   Bianca Farella 18
5   Emma Tonegato 18

Points scored

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Rank Player Points
1   Alev Kelter 171
2   Ghislaine Landry 170
3   Ellia Green 164
4   Stacey Fluhler 155
5   Tyla Nathan-Wong 139

Updated: 4 February 2020

Awards

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Total impact player points
Pos Player T B O C Total
1   Stacey Fluhler 16 38 24 101 279
2   Emma Tonegato 51 18 16 105 242
3   Coralie Bertrand 48 10 30 84 222
4   Bianca Farella 47 16 15 95 220
5   Kelly Brazier 73 12 15 80 219
6   Alev Kelter 27 23 10 101 217
7   Ellia Green 26 24 11 90 210
8   Ana Maria Naimasi 27 17 21 71 191
9   Camille Grassineau 56 6 18 73 183
10   Baizat Khamidova 42 10 18 73 181

Updated: 4 February 2020

See also

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References

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Notes

  1. ^ a b Point differential: Australia +367, Canada +233.
  2. ^ World Rugby announced that there would be no relegation from the 2019–20 core teams as the inaugural Challenger Series qualifying event for women's teams scheduled for March 2020 was not able to take place. Therefore, Brazil, who would have been relegated as the lowest placed core team, re-qualified as a core team for the next World Rugby Women's Sevens Series.[2]

Citations

  1. ^ "World Rugby update on COVID-19 response measures and statement from Sir Bill Beaumont". World Rugby. 20 March 2020. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d "New Zealand awarded titles as HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020 concluded". World Rugby. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  3. ^ "World Rugby Statement: Singapore and Hong Kong Sevens rescheduled". World.Rugby. 13 February 2020.
  4. ^ "Coronavirus: World Rugby forced into mass cancellations". The New Zealand Herald. 21 March 2020.
  5. ^ Tournament Rules 2018, p. 2.
  6. ^ Tournament Rules 2018, p. 3.
  7. ^ Tournament Rules 2018, pp. 3–5.
  8. ^ Tournament Rules 2018, pp. 2–3.
  9. ^ "Brazil win Core Qualifiers in Hong Kong". Americas Rugby. 5 April 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  10. ^ Breakfast, Sivewe (18 July 2019). "Cape Town Sevens dates confirmed: Women's event added to extended 2019 tournament". The South African. Archived from the original on 21 July 2019.
  11. ^ Navzi, Careem (13 March 2019). "Hong Kong Rugby Sevens to include women's event for first time from 2020 in revamped World Series". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 13 March 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  12. ^ "World Rugby announces new-look men's and women's HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2019-23". world.rugby. 13 March 2019. Archived from the original on 25 March 2019.
  13. ^ "Schedule announced for HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020". World.Rugby. 8 August 2019. Archived from the original on 8 August 2019.
  14. ^ "HSBC World Rugby Women's Sevens Series". world.rugby. Archived from the original on 21 July 2019.
  15. ^ "HSBC Sydney 7s heads to Bankwest Stadium". Rugby Australia. 3 June 2019. Archived from the original on 4 June 2019.
  16. ^ "Schedule announced for HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020". World Rugby. 8 August 2019. Archived from the original on 8 August 2019.

Sources

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