2021–22 World Rugby Sevens Series

The 2021–22 World Rugby Sevens Series was the 23rd annual series of rugby sevens tournaments for national men's rugby sevens teams. The Sevens Series has been run by World Rugby since 1999.

2021–22 World Rugby Sevens
Series XXIII
Hosts
Date26 November 2021 – 28 August 2022
Final positions
Champions Australia
Runners-up South Africa
Third Fiji
Series details
Top try scorer Terry Kennedy (50)
Top point scorer Dietrich Roache (343)
2021

The series was won by Australia 7s, claiming their first World Series title. Second-placed South Africa opened the competition by winning the first four tournaments, with a 36-match winning streak that lasted until the 2022 Singapore Sevens where they were beaten by the United States in pool play,[1] but they did not make the semifinals in any of the remaining events.

There was no relegation required at the end of the season as the number of core teams was reduced when England, Scotland and Wales were combined to play as Great Britain for the 2022–23 series.[2]

Core teams

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The core teams remained unchanged from the previous series due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic which curtailed the last two seasons.[3][4] The sixteen core teams qualified to participate in all 2021–22 tournaments were:

Notes
  1. ^ Japan did not compete in the 2021 series but had core team status for it after winning the Challenger Series in 2020 [5] and kept that status for 2021–22.
  2. ^ As there was no relegation in the previous two seasons, Wales retained core status despite being the lowest-placed core team in 2019–20.[6]

Tour venues

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The schedule for the series was:[7][8]

2021–22 Itinerary
Leg Stadium City Dates Winner
Dubai (2 events) The Sevens Dubai 26–27 November 2021   South Africa
3–4 December 2021   South Africa
Spain (2 events) Estadio Ciudad de Málaga Málaga 21–23 January 2022   South Africa
Estadio de La Cartuja Seville 28–30 January 2022   South Africa
Singapore National Stadium Singapore 9–10 April 2022   Fiji
Canada BC Place Vancouver 16–17 April 2022[a]   Argentina
France Stade Ernest-Wallon[10] Toulouse 20–22 May 2022   Fiji
England Twickenham Stadium London 28–29 May 2022   Australia
United States Dignity Health Sports Park Los Angeles 27–28 August 2022[b]   New Zealand
Notes
  1. ^ The Canada Sevens event was moved from 26–27 February to 16–17 April due to COVID-19 logistical challenges.[9]
  2. ^ The LA Sevens event was moved from 5–6 March to 27–28 August due to ongoing COVID-19 logistical challenges.[9]

Standings

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Due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, World Rugby revised the method used for the series standings in the interest of fairness to teams not able to participate in all rounds of the 2021–22 season.[11] This system excluded the two lowest-scored rounds from each team in the final standings. So, with nine tournaments in the series, only the best seven tournament results for each team contributed to the ranking points.[11]

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. An asterisk (*) indicates a tied placing. An obelisk () is recorded in the event column where a low-scoring round is excluded from a core team's ranking points. A dash (—) is recorded where a team did not compete.

2021–22 World Rugby Sevens – Series XXIII
 
Pos
Event 
Team
 
Dubai I
 
Dubai II
 
Má­laga
 
Se­ville
 
Sing­apore
 
Van­cou­ver
 
Tou­louse
 
Lon­don
 
Los Ang­eles
Total
points
Rank­ing
points
   
1   Australia 13 19 15 19 17 17 10 22 17 149 126
2   South Africa 22 22 22 22 10 13 5 13 3 132 124
3   Fiji[a] 15 8 1† 22 19 22 17 19 123 122
4   Argentina 17 17 19 17 13† 22 13 8 13 139 118
5   Ireland 11 10 10 15 15 8 19 12 10 110 92
6   United States 19 11 12 13 12 3 10 7 10 97 87
7   France 8 15 13 10 8 10 17 5 8 94 81
8   New Zealand[b] 19 12 8 19 22 80 80
9   Samoa[a] 1 10 15 15 15 15 71  71[c]
10   England[d] 4† 5 17 12 3 10 12 10 5 78  71[c]
11   Spain 7 7 8 7 7 2 5 10 1 54 51
12   Kenya 10 12 1 8 5 1 1 1 12 51 49
13   Scotland[d] 4† 5 5 10 1 5 7 5 7 49 44
14   Canada 6 5 10 2 1 7 1 3 1 36  34[e]
15   Wales[d] 4 5 7 3 5 5 2 1 5 37  34[e]
16   Japan 5 6 3 5 2 1 3 2 2 29 26
17   Great Britain[d] 12 13 25 25
18   Germany 5 5 10 10
19   Jamaica 2 1 3 3

Source: World Rugby

Legend
No colour Core team
Yellow Invited team
Notes
  1. ^ a b Fiji and Samoa did not play in the two tournaments in Spain following positive COVID-19 tests in their squads.[12][13] As Fiji was not replaced in the schedule for Málaga [14] and Samoa not replaced for Seville,[15] their opponents advanced by walkover in those tournaments. As such, Fiji finished equal-last in Málaga and received one point in the season standings.[16] Similarly, Samoa finished equal-last in Seville and received one point in the season standings.[16]
  2. ^ New Zealand missed the first four tournaments due to travel logistics and travel-related restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic.
  3. ^ a b Tie-breaker margin of points scored for and against (from all matches in only the best seven tournaments for each team, respectively): Samoa +125, England –115.[17]
  4. ^ a b c d England, Scotland and Wales were represented by Great Britain in the first two events held in Dubai. For the remaining events, they competed as separate national unions.[8] Each team received one-third of the points earned by Great Britain in the first two rounds: four points each for Dubai I, five points each for Dubai II.[16]
  5. ^ a b Tie-breaker margin of points scored for and against (from all matches in only the best seven tournaments for each team, respectively): Canada –289, Wales –322.[17]

Placings summary

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Tallies of top-four placings in tournaments during the 2021–22 series, by team:

Team   Gold   Silver   Bronze Fourth Total
  South Africa 4 4
  Fiji 2 2 1 1 6
  Australia 1 2 3 1 7
  New Zealand 1 2 3
  Argentina 1 1 3 5
  Ireland 1 2 3
  United States 1 1
  France 1 1 2
  England 1 1
  Samoa 4 4

Player statistics

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Dream Team

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  Nick Malouf
  Luciano González Rizzoni
  Zain Davids
  Marcos Moneta
  Waisea Nacuqu
  Terry Kennedy
  Corey Toole

Reference:[18]

Scoring

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Updated: 29 August 2022

Performance

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Updated: 29 August 2022

Tournaments

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Dubai I

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   South Africa 42–7   United States   Argentina (Bronze)

  Fiji

5th Place   Australia 35–21   Great Britain   Ireland (7th)

  Kenya

9th Place   France 28–26   Spain   Canada (11th)

  Japan

Dubai II

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   South Africa 10–7   Australia   Argentina (Bronze)

  France

5th Place   Great Britain 10–5   Kenya   United States (7th)

  Ireland

9th Place   Fiji 31–7   Spain   Japan (11th)

  Canada

Malaga

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   South Africa 24–17   Argentina   England (Bronze)

  Australia

5th Place   France 28–12   United States   Ireland

  Canada

9th Place   Spain 34–5   Wales   Scotland

  Germany

13th Place   Japan 29–24   Jamaica   Kenya

  Fiji

Seville

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   South Africa 33–7   Australia   Argentina (Bronze)

  Ireland

5th Place   United States 22–17   England   France

  Scotland

9th Place   Kenya 24–19   Spain   Germany

  Japan

13th Place   Wales 19–14   Canada   Jamaica

  Samoa

Singapore

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   Fiji 28–17   New Zealand   Australia (Bronze)

  Ireland

5th Place   Argentina 42–24   United States   Samoa

  South Africa

9th Place   France 24–19   Spain   Kenya

  Wales

13th Place   England 28–14   Japan   Canada

  Scotland

Vancouver

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   Argentina 29–10   Fiji   Australia (Bronze)

  Samoa

5th Place   South Africa 17–15   New Zealand   England

  France

9th Place   Ireland 17–7   Canada   Scotland

  Wales

13th Place   United States 33–24   Spain   Japan

  Kenya

Toulouse

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   Fiji 29–17   Ireland   France (Bronze)

  Samoa

5th Place   Argentina 21–12   England   Australia

  United States

9th Place   New Zealand 42–7   Scotland   South Africa

  Spain

13th Place   Japan 28–14   Wales   Canada

  Kenya

London

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   Australia 19–14   New Zealand   Fiji (Bronze)

  Samoa

5th Place   South Africa 14–5   Ireland   England

  Spain

9th Place   Argentina 31–5   United States   France

  Scotland

13th Place   Canada 26–19   Japan   Kenya

  Wales

Los Angeles

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup   New Zealand 28–21   Fiji   Australia (Bronze)

  Samoa

5th Place   Argentina 29–7   Kenya   Ireland

  United States

9th Place   France 33–0   Scotland   England

  Wales

13th Place   South Africa 26–0   Japan   Spain

  Canada

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Org, Worldrugby. "Singapore set for thrilling finals day as South Africa's sevens winning streak ends".
  2. ^ "Great Britain Sevens to compete in HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series". World Rugby. 20 July 2022.
  3. ^ "World Rugby cancels Sevens events in Cape Town and Singapore". ESPN. 4 September 2021. Archived from the original on 4 September 2021.
  4. ^ "HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series to double-up in Canada and Dubai". World Rugby. 3 September 2021. Archived from the original on 4 September 2021.
  5. ^ "Plans revised for HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2021". World Rugby. 29 July 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  6. ^ "New Zealand awarded titles as HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020 concluded". World.Rugby. Archived from the original on 7 March 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  7. ^ "HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series". World.Rugby. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  8. ^ a b "HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2022 schedule unveiled". World Rugby. 12 October 2021.
  9. ^ a b "New dates for Vancouver and Los Angeles in HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2022". World Rugby. 20 January 2022.
  10. ^ "Toulouse to host World Rugby Sevens date". Barrons. 12 October 2021.
  11. ^ a b "Everything you need to know about the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2022". World Rugby. 1 December 2021. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021.
  12. ^ Naivalurua, Navitalai (21 January 2022). "Fiji Men's and Women's 7s teams pull out of Spain tournaments". Fiji Village.
  13. ^ "Manu Samoa 7s Pulled Out of Spain Due to High Number of Covid Positive Results". Samoa Global News. 17 January 2022. Archived from the original on 17 January 2022.
  14. ^ "Malaga: Pools". World Rugby. Archived from the original on 23 January 2022. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  15. ^ "Men's HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series Seville: Fixures and results". Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  16. ^ a b c "Men's Standings". world.rugby. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  17. ^ a b DHL Highlights HSBC LA Sevens Day Two (Television production). World Rugby. 28 May 2022. Event occurs at 8:25.
  18. ^ "Moneta and González Rizzoni named to 7s Series Dream Team". americas rugby news. 29 August 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  19. ^ "DHL Impact Player". World Rugby. Archived from the original on 28 November 2021.
  20. ^ @WorldRugby7s (December 4, 2021). "What a list of Sevens talent! @DHLRugby" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  21. ^ "DHL Impact Player". World Rugby. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022.
  22. ^ "DHL Impact Player". World Rugby. Archived from the original on 1 February 2022.
  23. ^ @WorldRugby7s (April 10, 2022). "An integral day two performance from @Aussie7s' Corey Toole, gave him the edge to lead the #ImpactPlayer standings in Singapore @DHLRugby" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  24. ^ "DHL Impact Player". World Rugby. 18 April 2022. Archived from the original on 18 April 2022.
  25. ^ "Kenya 7s duo ranked among top impact players in Toulouse 7s". Scrummage. 22 May 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
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