2014–15 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series

The 2014–15 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series was the third edition of the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series (formerly the IRB Women's Sevens World Series), an annual series of tournaments organised by World Rugby for women's national teams in rugby sevens. The series also doubled as an Olympic qualifier for the first time ever.

World Rugby
Women's Sevens Series III
Hosts United Arab Emirates
 Brazil
 United States
 Canada
 England
 Netherlands
Date4 Dec 2014 – 23 May 2015
Final positions
Champions New Zealand
Runners-up Canada
Series details
Top try scorerNew Zealand Portia Woodman (52)
Top point scorerNew Zealand Portia Woodman

For the second time in the series' history, the number of events increased. The first series in 2012–13 featured four events. The 2013–14 series was initially announced with six events,[1] but only five were actually scheduled and played. This season's series included six events.

As in previous seasons, the number of teams in each of the events was set at 12; however, the number of core teams that participate in all series events increased to 11.[2]

Also for the first time, the women's series held a core team qualifying tournament at Hong Kong, similar to that held in the men's HSBC Sevens World Series.[3]

The competition

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As in the case of the men's counterpart, the series winner was the team that collected the most points throughout the season, based on individual tournament finishes.

The number of "core teams" that participate in all series events increased to 11 for the 2014–15 series, up from six in the inaugural 2012–13 series and nine in 2013–14. The top seven finishers in the 2013–14 series were granted core team status for 2014–15:[3]

Four more core teams were determined in a qualifying tournament:

Events

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2014–15 Itinerary
Leg Venue Dates Winner
Dubai The Sevens, Dubai 4–5 December 2014   New Zealand
Brazil Arena Barueri, São Paulo 7–8 February 2015   New Zealand
United States Fifth Third Bank Stadium, Kennesaw, Georgia (Atlanta) 14–15 March 2015   New Zealand
Canada Westhills Stadium, Langford, British Columbia (Victoria) 18–19 April 2015   New Zealand
London Twickenham Stoop and Twickenham Stadium, London 15–16 May 2015   Australia
Netherlands NRCA Stadium, Amsterdam 22–23 May 2015   Canada

Qualifying tournament

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The core team qualifying tournament was held at Shek Kip Mei Stadium in Hong Kong on 12–13 September 2014.

The qualifier began with a single round-robin pool stage, with teams divided into three four-team pools. The top two teams from each pool, plus the top two third-place finishers, advanced to a knockout stage. The four quarterfinal winners qualified as core teams for 2014–15.

  1.   Fiji (qualified)
  2.   France (qualified)
  3.   China (qualified)
  4.   South Africa (qualified)
  5.   Japan
  6.   Brazil
  7.   Netherlands
  8.   Portugal
  9.   Hong Kong
  10.   Argentina
  11.   Kenya
  12.   Mexico

Points schedule

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The season championship was to be determined by points earned in each tournament. The scoring system was the same used in the previous year's series.

  • Cup Winner - 20
  • Cup Runner Up - 18
  • 3rd Place - 16
  • Cup Semi Finalist - 14
  • Plate Winner - 12
  • Plate Runner Up - 10
  • Winner 7th/8th play-off - 8
  • Loser 7th/8th play-off - 6
  • Bowl Winner - 4
  • Bowl Runner Up - 3
  • Winner 11th/12th play-off - 2
  • Loser 11th/12th play-off - 1

Table

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Final standings for the 2014–15 series:

Women's Rugby Sevens
World Series III
 
Pos.
Event 
Team
 
Dubai
 
São Paulo
 
Atlanta
 
Langford
 
London
 
Amsterdam
Points
total
    New Zealand 20 20 20 20 16 12 108
    Canada 16 16 16 10 18 20 96
    Australia 18 18 12 8 20 18 94
4   England a 12 12 8 16 12 16 76
5   United States 8 10 18 12 14 14 76
6   France 14 14 10 14 10 10 72
7   Russia 6 8 14 18 8 6 60
8   Fiji 10 4 4 6 4 4 32
9   Spain 2 3 3 4 6 8 26
10   Brazil 4 6 6 3 1 - 20
11   China 1 2 2 2 3 3 13
12   South Africa 3 1 1 1 2 1 9
13   Netherlands - - - - - 2 2
  Legend
Qualified as a core team for women's rugby sevens World Series IV and the 2016 Summer Olympics
Qualified as a core team for women's rugby sevens World Series IV
Did not directly qualify for women's rugby sevens World Series IV

^a By agreement between the three unions on the island of Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales), England, as highest finisher among those nations in the 2013–14 series, represents Great Britain for the purposes of Olympic qualification.[4]

Tournaments

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Dubai

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   New Zealand 19–17   Australia   Canada (3rd)
  France
Plate   England 19–12   Fiji   United States (7th)
  Russia
Bowl   Brazil 17–7   South Africa   Spain (11th)
  China

São Paulo

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   New Zealand 17–10   Australia   Canada (3rd)
  France
Plate   England 14–5   United States   Russia (7th)
  Brazil
Bowl   Fiji 17–12   Spain   China (11th)
  South Africa

Atlanta

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   New Zealand 50–12   United States   Canada (3rd)
  Russia
Plate   Australia 26–17   France   England (7th)
  Brazil
Bowl   Fiji 17–12   Spain   China (11th)
  South Africa

Victoria

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   New Zealand 29–10   Russia   England (3rd)
  France
Plate   United States 19–12   Canada   Australia (7th)
  Fiji
Bowl   Spain 14–12   Brazil   China (11th)
  South Africa

London

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   Australia 20–17   Canada   New Zealand (3rd)
  United States
Plate   England 19–0   France   Russia (7th)
  Spain
Bowl   Fiji 31–0   China   South Africa (11th)
  Brazil

Amsterdam

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   Canada 20–17   Australia   England (3rd)
  United States
Plate   New Zealand 35–5   France   Spain (7th)
  Russia
Bowl   Fiji 38–12   China   Netherlands (11th)
  South Africa

References

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  1. ^ "IRB announces Women's Sevens World Series" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 22 August 2013. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  2. ^ "Host cities announced for women's series" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 31 July 2014. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  3. ^ a b "Women's Sevens Series places up for grabs" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 8 July 2014. Archived from the original on 8 October 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  4. ^ "England nominated to qualify GB for Olympics" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 11 July 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.{{cite press release}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
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