2015–16 World Rugby Sevens Series

The 2015–16 World Rugby Sevens Series, known for sponsorship reasons as the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, was the 17th annual series of rugby union sevens tournaments for national men's rugby sevens teams. The Sevens Series has been run by World Rugby since 1999–2000. This season, the series expanded from nine to ten events.[1]

2015–16 World Rugby Sevens
Series XVII
Hosts
Date4 Dec 2015 – 22 May 2016
Final positions
Champions Fiji
Runners-up South Africa
Third New Zealand

Core teams

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Fourteen teams from the 2014-15 season retained core status for the 2015–16 season. A fifteenth team, Russia, claimed core team status for the 2015–16 series at the 2015 Hong Kong Sevens qualifier. The core teams were:

Russia replaced Japan, which lost core team status having finished last of the fifteen core teams in the 2014–15 Sevens World Series.

Tour venues

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The official schedule for the 2015–16 World Rugby Sevens Series was as follows:[2]

2015–16 Venues
Leg Stadium City Date Winner
Dubai The Sevens Dubai 4–5 December 2015   Fiji
South Africa Cape Town Stadium Cape Town 12–13 December 2015   South Africa
New Zealand Westpac Stadium Wellington 30–31 January 2016   New Zealand
Australia Allianz Stadium Sydney 6–7 February 2016   New Zealand
United States Sam Boyd Stadium Las Vegas 4–6 March 2016   Fiji
Canada BC Place Vancouver 12–13 March 2016   New Zealand
Hong Kong Hong Kong Stadium Hong Kong 8–10 April 2016   Fiji
Singapore National Stadium Singapore 16–17 April 2016   Kenya
France Stade Jean-Bouin Paris 13–15 May 2016   Samoa
England Twickenham Stadium London 21–22 May 2016   Scotland

Changes

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There were three new tournaments in the series, with two events being discontinued:

Two other existing tournaments had venue changes:

Standings

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Final standings after completion of the ten tournaments in the series:

2015–16 World Rugby Sevens – Series XVII
 
Pos.
Event 
Team
 
Dubai
 
Cape Town
 
Well­ington
 
Sydney
 
Las Vegas
 
Van­couver
 
Hong Kong
 
Singa­pore
 
Paris
 
London
Points
total
   
1   Fiji 22 13 17 17 22 15 22 19 19 15 181
2   South Africa 13 22 19 15 17 19 17 17 13 19 171
3   New Zealand 15 10 22 22 13 22 19 12 10 13 158
4   Australia 12 10 13 19 19 17 15 10 12 7 134
5   Argentina 10 19 12 13 10 5 8 15 15 12 119
6   United States 17 12 10 10 15 12 12 7 5 17 117
7   Kenya 5 15 10 12 10 1 10 22 10 3 98
8   England 19 7 15 10 1 5 13 5 7 10 92
9   Samoa 10 3 8 7 3 13 5 13 22 5 89
10   Scotland 7 8 7 5 5 10 7 8 8 22 87
11   France 8 17 3 1 7 7 5 10 17 10 85
12   Wales 5 5 1 3 8 10 10 2 2 8 54
13   Canada 3 5 5 8 2 8 2 1 1 5 40
14   Russia 1 2 2 2 5 3 3 3 5 2 28
15   Japan 2 5 1 12 1 21
16   Portugal 1 1 1 5 1 2 1 5 3 1 21
17   Brazil 1 1 1 3
18   Zimbabwe 1 1
19   South Korea 1 1

Source: World Rugby. Archived [6]

Legend
No colour Core team in 2015–16 and re-qualified as a core team for the 2016–17 World Rugby Sevens Series
Pink Relegated as the lowest placed core team at the end of the 2015–16 season
Yellow Not a core team

Tournaments

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Dubai

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The opening event of the season saw Fiji starting their defense of the title by taking out the opening event of the season in Dubai. On the opening day of competition, Fiji, South Africa and England each recorded three straight wins to finish on top. New Zealand finished on top in their group but not before losing to the United States in Pool C.[7]

South Africa got knocked out in the quarter-finals by the United States but would still end up taking home the plate after they defeated Australia in the final. While for Fiji, they would take the Dubai Sevens after they initially came from behind to win against England and taking the early lead.[8]

Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   Fiji 28–17   England   United States (third place)
  New Zealand
Plate   South Africa 19–14   Australia   Argentina
  Samoa
Bowl   France 24–14   Scotland   Kenya
  Wales
Shield   Canada 19–17   Japan   Portugal
  Russia

South Africa

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After Dubai, the teams had a back to back with Cape Town being the next stop in the series.

Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   South Africa 29–14   Argentina   France (third place)
  Kenya
Plate   Fiji 29–19   United States   Australia
  New Zealand
Bowl   Scotland 19–0   England   Canada
  Wales
Shield   Samoa 40–5   Russia   Portugal
  Zimbabwe

New Zealand

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   New Zealand 24–21   South Africa   Fiji (third place)
  England
Plate   Australia 21–5   Argentina   Kenya
  United States
Bowl   Samoa 19–7   Scotland   Japan
  Canada
Shield   France 14–7   Russia   Portugal
  Wales

Australia

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   New Zealand 27–24   Australia   Fiji (third place)
  South Africa
Plate   Argentina 24–0   Kenya   United States
  England
Bowl   Canada 17–12   Samoa   Scotland
  Portugal
Shield   Wales 26–19   Russia   Japan
  France

United States

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   Fiji 21–15   Australia   South Africa (third place)
  United States
Plate   New Zealand 27–7   Japan   Kenya
  Argentina
Bowl   Wales 21–7   France   Russia
  Scotland
Shield   Samoa 24–12   Canada   England
  Portugal

Canada

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   New Zealand 19–14   South Africa   Australia (third place)
  Fiji
Plate   Samoa 31–19   United States   Wales
  Scotland
Bowl   Canada 19–17   France   Argentina
  England
Shield   Russia 17–10   Portugal   Kenya
  Brazil

Hong Kong

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   Fiji 21-7   New Zealand   South Africa (third place)
  Australia
Plate   England 19–0   United States   Wales
  Kenya
Bowl   Argentina 26–0   Scotland   France
  Samoa
Shield   Russia 19–14   Canada   South Korea
  Portugal

Singapore

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   Kenya 30–7   Fiji   South Africa (third place)
  Argentina
Plate   Samoa 26–21   New Zealand   Australia
  France
Bowl   Scotland 14–10   United States   England
  Portugal
Shield   Russia 24–7   Wales   Japan
  Canada

France

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   Samoa 29 –26   Fiji   France (third place)
  Argentina
Plate   South Africa 17 – 7   Australia   New Zealand
  Kenya
Bowl   Scotland 28 – 10   England   Russia
  United States
Shield   Portugal 24 – 19   Wales   Canada
  Brazil

England

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   Scotland 27 –26   South Africa   United States (third place)
  Fiji
Plate   New Zealand 29 –14   Argentina   France
  England
Bowl   Wales 24 –19   Australia   Canada
  Samoa
Shield   Kenya 31 –7   Russia   Brazil
  Portugal

Team statistics

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Rank
Team Matches Points Ø-Points Tries Ø-Tries
1   Fiji 48 1368 28.50 213 4.44
2   South Africa 48 1199 24.98 187 3.90
3   Australia 46 971 21.11 153 3.33
4   New Zealand 47 964 20.51 156 3.32
5   United States 46 962 20.91 152 3.30
6   Samoa 46 877 19.07 140 3.04
7   Canada 45 864 19.20 140 3.11
8   France 45 829 18.42 131 2.91
9   England 44 760 17.27 118 2.68
10   Kenya 43 751 17.47 120 2.79
11   Scotland 45 745 16.56 119 2.64
12   Argentina 45 740 16.44 116 2.58
13   Wales 43 738 17.16 116 2.70
14   Russia 46 546 11.87 92 2.00
15   Japan 27 442 16.37 70 2.59
16   Portugal 41 332 8.10 54 1.32
17   South Korea 5 35 7.00 5 1.00
18   Brazil 5 19 3.80 3 0.60
19   Zimbabwe 5 17 3.40 3 0.60

Players

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Scoring leaders

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Tries scored
Rank Player Tries
1   Seabelo Senatla 66
2   Perry Baker 48
3   Samoa Toloa 37
4   Savenaca Rawaca 35
5   Collins Injera 32
Points scored
Rank Player Points
1   Madison Hughes 331
2   Seabelo Senatla 330
3   Nathan Hirayama 295
4   Vatemo Ravouvou 287
5   Perry Baker 240

Updated: 24 May 2016

Dream Team

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Gosper: Monumental 12 months for rugby sevens ahead". WorldRugby.org (Press release). 31 March 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  2. ^ "HSBC partners with World Rugby for record-breaking sevens properties". Australian Rugby. 30 June 2015. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  3. ^ Kingston, Gary (23 February 2015). "BC Place to host World Rugby Sevens". Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on 2 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  4. ^ "Australian leg of rugby Sevens World Series set to move to Sydney from Gold Coast in 2016". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  5. ^ "Cape Town confirmed as Sevens host". Sport24. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  6. ^ "HSBC Sevens World Series Standings". World Rugby. Archived from the original on 22 June 2016.
  7. ^ "Top two reign supreme, while USA create drama in sizzling Dubai". World Rugby. 4 December 2015. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  8. ^ "Supreme Fiji lift Dubai title". World Rugby. 5 December 2015. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  9. ^ "HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series awards: As it happened!", World Rugby. Accessed 23 May 2016.
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