2009–10 IRB Sevens World Series

The 2009–10 IRB Sevens World Series was the eleventh of an annual series of rugby union sevens tournaments for full national sides run by the International Rugby Board since 1999–2000. Samoa won the IRB Sevens World Series crown for their first time.

2009–10 IRB Sevens
Series XI
Hosts
Date4 December 2009 - 30 May 2010
Final positions
Champions Samoa
Runners-up New Zealand
Third Australia
2008-09
2010-11

Sevens is traditionally played in a two-day tournament format. However, the most famous event, the Hong Kong Sevens, is played over three days, largely because it involves 24 teams instead of the normal 16.

The 2009-10 Series was won by Samoa, who won four of the eight tournaments and placed second in two others. Samoa were led by top try-scorer Mikaele Pesamino, who led the Series with 56 tries.

Itinerary

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The series' tournaments were identical to those in 2008–09 and spanned the globe, visiting five of the six populated continents.

2009–10 Itinerary[1]
Leg Venue Date Winner
Dubai The Sevens December 4–5, 2009   New Zealand
South Africa Outeniqua Park, George December 11–12, 2009   New Zealand
New Zealand Westpac Stadium, Wellington February 5–6, 2010   Fiji
United States Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas February 13–14, 2010   Samoa
Australia Adelaide Oval, Adelaide March 19–21, 2010   Samoa
Hong Kong Hong Kong Stadium March 26–28, 2010   Samoa
London Twickenham May 22–23, 2010   Australia
Edinburgh Murrayfield, Edinburgh May 29–30, 2010   Samoa

Two minor changes were made to the schedule:

  • The USA event moved from San Diego, its home from 2007 to 2009, to Las Vegas.[2]
  • The Adelaide event moved from its previous slot of one week after Hong Kong to one week before.[1]

Core teams

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Before each season, the IRB announces the 12 "core teams" that will receive guaranteed berths in each event in that season's series. The core teams for 2009–10 were:[3]

The core teams were unchanged from 2008–09; the most recent change came before that season, when the USA replaced its neighbor Canada.[4]

Points schedule

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The season championship is determined by points earned in each tournament. Effective with this season, the IRB changed the points allocations for all events as follows:[5]

16-team events (all except for Hong Kong)
  • Cup winner (1st place): 24 points
  • Cup runner-up: 20 points
  • Losing Cup semifinalists: 16 points
  • Plate winner (5th place): 12 points
  • Plate runner-up: 8 points
  • Losing Plate semifinalists: 6 points
  • Bowl winner (9th place): 4 points
24-team event (Hong Kong)
  • Cup winner: 30 points
  • Cup runner-up: 25 points
  • Losing Cup semifinalists: 20 points
  • Plate winner (5th place): 16 points
  • Plate runner-up: 10 points
  • Losing Plate semifinalists: 8 points
  • Bowl winner (9th place): 5 points

Tournament structure

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In all tournaments except Hong Kong, 16 teams participate. Due to its place as the sport's most prestigious annual event, the Hong Kong tournament has 24 teams. In each 16-team tournament, the teams are divided into pools of four teams, who play a round-robin within the pool. Points are awarded in each pool on a different schedule from most rugby tournaments—3 for a win, 2 for a draw, 1 for a loss. The first tiebreaker is the head-to-head result between the tied teams, followed by difference in points scored during the tournament.[6]

Four trophies are awarded in each tournament. In descending order of prestige, they are the Cup, whose winner is the overall tournament champion, Plate, Bowl and Shield. The Shield was contested in Hong Kong for the first time in 2010. Each trophy is awarded at the end of a knockout tournament.[7]

In a 16-team tournament, the top two teams in each pool advance to the Cup competition. The four quarterfinal losers drop into the bracket for the Plate. The Bowl is contested by the third- and fourth-place finishers in each pool, with the losers in the Bowl quarterfinals dropping into the bracket for the Shield.[6]

The Hong Kong Sevens adopted a new structure effective with its 2010 edition. As in previous years, the 24 teams were divided into six pools of four teams each, with the competition points system and tiebreakers identical to those for a 16-team event. Also as in the past, the six pool winners and the two top second-place finishers advanced to the Cup competition.[8] The changes made in 2010 were:[9]

  • The Plate competition was contested by the losing quarterfinalists from the Cup, as in all other events in the series.
  • The Bowl was contested by the four remaining second-place finishers and the top four third-place finishers. In previous years, these teams competed for the Plate.
  • The Shield was contested by the remaining eight entrants. In previous years, these teams competed for the Bowl.

Final standings

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The points awarded to teams at each event, as well as the overall season totals, are shown in the table below. Points for the event winners are indicated in bold. A zero (0) is recorded in the event column where a team competed in a tournament but did not gain any points. A dash (–) is recorded in the event column if a team did not compete at a tournament.

2009–10 IRB Sevens – Series XI[10]
 
Pos.
Event 
Team
 
Dubai
 
George
 
Well­ing­ton
 
Las Vegas
 
Hong Kong
 
Adel­aide
 
Lon­don
 
Edin­burgh
Points
total
   
1   Samoa 20 6 20 24 24 30 16 24 164
2   New Zealand 24 24 16 20 12 25 12 16 149
3   Australia 12 6 12 16 16 16 24 20 122
4   Fiji 16 20 24 8 6 20 8 6 108
5   England 16 12 16 6 4 20 6 16 96
6   South Africa 8 8 8 12 8 10 20 6 80
7   Argentina 6 16 0 0 16 0 16 8 62
8   Kenya 6 16 6 16 0 8 0 0 52
9   Wales 4 4 4 6 6 0 6 4 34
10   United States 0 0 0 4 20 8 0 0 32
11   Canada 6 0 5 4 0 15
12   Scotland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 12
13   France 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Notes:
  Light blue line on the left indicates a core team eligible to participate in all events of the series.

Player scoring

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Most points

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Most points[11]
Pos. Player Country Points
1 Ben Gollings   England 332
2 Mikaele Pesamino   Samoa 282
3 Lolo Lui   Samoa 264
4 James Stannard   Australia 257
5 Tomasi Cama   New Zealand 241
6 Cecil Afrika   South Africa 210
7 Kurt Baker   New Zealand 191
8 Lavin Asego   Kenya 173
9 Mzwandile Stick   South Africa 171
10 William Ryder   Fiji 166

Most tries

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Most tries[12]
Pos. Player Country Tries
1 Mikaele Pesamino   Samoa 56
2= Kurt Baker   New Zealand 33
2= Humphrey Kayange   Kenya 33
4= Rayno Benjamin   South Africa 32
4= Collins Injera   Kenya 32
6 Brackin Karauria-Henry   Australia 30
7 Alafoti Fa'osiliva   Samoa 29
8= Renaud Delmas   France 28
8= Clinton Sills   Australia 28
10 Sherwin Stowers   New Zealand 27

Tournaments

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Dubai

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists
Cup   New Zealand 24 – 12   Samoa   England
  Fiji
Plate   Australia 7 – 0   South Africa   Argentina
  Kenya
Bowl   Wales 38 – 7   Zimbabwe   United States
  France
Shield   Russia 17 – 14   Portugal   Scotland
 Arabian Gulf

South Africa

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists
Cup   New Zealand 21 – 12   Fiji   Argentina
  Kenya
Plate   England 21 – 7   South Africa   Samoa
  Australia
Bowl   Wales 14 – 5   Russia   United States
  Portugal
Shield   Scotland 28 – 19   France   Zimbabwe
  Tunisia

New Zealand

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists
Cup   Fiji 19 – 14   Samoa   England
  New Zealand
Plate   Australia 26 – 22   South Africa   Canada
  Kenya
Bowl   Wales 7 – 5   France   Argentina
  Niue
Shield   United States 17 – 14   Tonga   Papua New Guinea
  Scotland

United States

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists
Cup   Samoa 33 – 12   New Zealand   Australia
  Kenya
Plate   South Africa 12 – 7   Fiji   England
  Wales
Bowl   United States 28 – 17   France   Argentina
  Chile
Shield   Scotland 17 – 7   Japan   Canada
  Guyana

Australia

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists
Cup   Samoa 38 – 10   United States   Argentina
  Australia
Plate   New Zealand 21 – 14   South Africa   Fiji
  Wales
Bowl   England 33 – 12   Kenya   France
  Scotland
Shield   Japan 22 – 19   Tonga   Niue
  Papua New Guinea

Hong Kong

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists Quarter Finalists
Cup   Samoa 24 – 21   New Zealand   England
  Fiji
Plate   Australia 12 – 5   South Africa   Kenya
  United States
Bowl   Canada 35 – 19   Wales   Portugal
  Scotland
  Argentina
  France
  Japan
  Tonga
Shield   Hong Kong 19 – 17   Russia   Italy
  Zimbabwe
  China
  Chinese Taipei
  South Korea
  Thailand

London

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists
Cup   Australia 19 – 14   South Africa   Argentina
  Samoa
Plate   New Zealand 26 – 24   Fiji   England
  Wales
Bowl   Canada 19 – 17   Portugal   Scotland
  United States
Shield   Kenya 24 – 21   France   Italy
  Russia

Scotland

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists
Cup   Samoa 41 – 14   Australia   England
  New Zealand
Plate   Scotland 19 – 0   Argentina   Fiji
  South Africa
Bowl   Wales 26 – 10   Kenya   France
  United States
Shield   Russia 26 – 7   Canada   Italy
  Portugal

References

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  1. ^ a b "2009/10 IRB Sevens World Series schedule set" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 2009-07-08. Archived from the original on 2009-07-11. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  2. ^ "USA Sevens Signs Letter Of Intent to Bring Tournament to New Venue in 2010" (Press release). USA Sevens, LLC. 2009-07-13. Archived from the original on 2009-07-16. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  3. ^ "Pools and matches set for South Africa Sevens" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 2009-10-12. Archived from the original on 20 October 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-12.
  4. ^ "USA Rugby receives major Sevens boost" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 2008-09-22. Archived from the original on 2009-06-12. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  5. ^ "Overhaul for Sevens World Series point system" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 2009-11-05. Archived from the original on 2009-11-09. Retrieved 2009-11-06.
  6. ^ a b "Rules: 16-Team Tournament". International Rugby Board. 2009. Archived from the original on 9 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  7. ^ "Rules". International Rugby Board. Archived from the original on 2008-04-05. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
  8. ^ "Rules: 24-Team Tournament". International Rugby Board. 2009–2010. Archived from the original on 25 January 2010. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  9. ^ "All 24 teams announced for Hong Kong Sevens" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 28 January 2010. Archived from the original on 5 February 2010. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  10. ^ "Overall Standings". International Rugby Board. Archived from the original on 2008-12-02. Retrieved 2010-03-28.
  11. ^ "IRB Sevens World Series 2009/10 Statistics: Season Player Points". International Rugby Board. Archived from the original on 11 February 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-28.
  12. ^ "IRB Sevens World Series 2009/10 Statistics: Season Player Tries". International Rugby Board. Archived from the original on 2008-04-09. Retrieved 2010-03-28.
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