2019–20 World Rugby Sevens Series

The 2019–20 World Rugby Sevens Series was the 21st annual series of rugby sevens tournaments for national men's rugby sevens teams. The Sevens Series has been run by World Rugby since 1999–2000.

2019–20 World Rugby Sevens
Series XXI
Hosts
Date5 December 2019 – 8 March 2020
Final positions
Champions New Zealand
Runners-up South Africa
Third Fiji
Series details
Top try scorerJordan Conroy (30)
Top point scorerNapolioni Bolaca (159)
2021 →

In March 2020, World Rugby postponed all remaining tournaments in the series due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] The events in London and Paris were postponed provisionally until September,[1] preceding the Singapore and Hong Kong events previously postponed until October.[2] On 30 June, the remaining four rounds of the series was cancelled which meant that New Zealand was awarded the title by 11 points over second place South Africa.[3]

Format

Sixteen nations competed at each event, drawn into four pools of four teams.[4][5] Following the pool matches at each tournament, the top eight teams (two teams from each pool) played off for a Cup, with gold, silver and bronze medals also awarded to the first three teams.[6] The bottom eight teams after the pool matches played off for the lower-ranked placings from ninth to sixteenth at each tournament. The winner of the series was determined by the overall points standings gained across all events in the season.[7]

Challenger Series and the COVID-19 pandemic
Further information: World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series and COVID-19 pandemic

World Rugby announced in December 2019 that there would be a feeder competition to the Sevens Series consisting of sixteen teams that would play two sevens events in South America, determining the final eight teams to play in a playoff-style event at the Hong Kong Sevens. The final winner would be promoted to the World Rugby Sevens Series and replace the invitational side in the Sevens Series.[8][9]

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, World Rugby postponed the Sevens Series and Challenger Series seasons[10] to be completed at a later date in the year before subsequently cancelling the season entirely.[11][12] Because of both competitions seasons being cancelled, the final playoff in Hong Kong to decide the team who would be promoted to the Sevens Series would not be decided and the team with the highest points tally would be the promoted team. Japan, an invited team to five of the six Sevens Series events was promoted having accumulated thirty-nine points in total, three points clear at the top of the table.[13]

Core teams

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

Ireland joined as a core team for the first time after winning the 2019–20 World Series qualifier held in Hong Kong. They replaced Japan who were relegated after finishing as the lowest-placed core team in 2018–19. However, Japan will play in several tournaments as the wild card team in preparation to host the Olympic tournament.

Tour venues

The official schedule for the 2019–20 World Rugby Sevens Series was:[14]

2019–20 Itinerary
Leg Stadium City Dates Winner
Dubai The SevensDubai 5–7 December 2019 South Africa
South Africa Cape Town StadiumCape Town 13–15 December 2019 New Zealand
New Zealand FMG Stadium WaikatoHamilton 25–26 January 2020 New Zealand
Australia Bankwest StadiumSydney 1–2 February 2020 Fiji
United States Dignity Health Sports ParkLos Angeles 29 February – 1 March 2020 South Africa
Canada BC PlaceVancouver 7–8 March 2020 New Zealand

Events in Singapore and Hong Kong were originally scheduled to be played in April 2020 but were postponed due to health concerns relating to the COVID-19 pandemic and rescheduled to October 2020.[2] In June 2020, World Rugby cancelled all four remaining rounds of the tournament (Singapore, Hong Kong, England and France) due to the pandemic.[3]

Standings
For the tie-breaker rules, see World Rugby Sevens Series § Tiebreakers.

Official standings for the 2019–20 series:

2019–20 World Rugby Sevens – Series XXI
 
Pos.
Event 
Team
Dubai
Cape Town
Hamil­ton
Sydney
Los Angeles
Van­couver		 Points
total
   
1 New Zealand 192222131722115
2 South Africa 22197192215104
3 Fiji 815822191183
4 Australia 1351712151981
5 England 1771515101377
6 France 121719811774
7 United States 1081217131272
8 Canada 7613771757
9 Argentina 111311108356
10 Ireland 51251112449
11 Scotland 310664837
12 Kenya 4111013635
13 Samoa 154225533
14 Spain 634461033
15 Wales[note 1] 21152213
16 Japan[note 2] 1233–110
17 South Korea ––––1–1

Source: World Rugby

Legend
No colour Core team in 2019–20 and re-qualified as a core team for the 2020–21 World Rugby Sevens Series
Yellow Invited team

Note:

  1. World Rugby announced that there would be no relegation this season. Therefore, Wales, who would have been relegated as the lowest placed core team, re-qualified as a core team for the next World Rugby Sevens Series.[3]
  2. Although not a core team, Japan was invited to five of the six series events that were played. Japan was subsequently promoted from the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series as they finished with the most points in the two-event series.[15]

Players

Scoring leaders
See also: World Rugby Sevens Series § Player records
Tries scored
RankPlayerTries
1 Jordan Conroy30
2 Carlin Isles22
3 Aminiasi Tuimaba20
4 Perry Baker19
5 Terry Kennedy17
Points scored
RankPlayerPoints
1 Napolioni Bolaca159
2 Jordan Conroy150
3 Nathan Hirayama141
4 Lewis Holland125
5 Waisea Nacuqu124

Updated: 11 March 2020

See also

References
  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. "World Rugby Statement: Singapore and Hong Kong Sevens rescheduled". World.Rugby. 13 February 2020.
  3. "New Zealand awarded titles as HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020 concluded". World Rugby. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  4. Tournament Rules 2018, p. 2.
  5. Tournament Rules 2018, p. 3.
  6. Tournament Rules 2018, pp. 3–5.
  7. Tournament Rules 2018, pp. 2–3.
  8. "World Rugby launches Sevens Challenger Series". SportBusiness. 17 December 2019. Archived from the original on 16 February 2020.
  9. "New Challenger Series to boost rugby sevens' expansion". World Rugby. 17 December 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  10. "World Rugby Statement: HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series postponed". World Rugby. 13 March 2020.
  11. "World Rugby update on COVID-19 response measures and statement from Sir Bill Beaumont". World Rugby. 21 March 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  12. "New Zealand awarded titles as HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020 concluded". World Rugby. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  13. "Plans revised for HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2021". World Rugby. 29 July 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  14. "Schedule announced for HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020". World.Rugby. 8 August 2019. Archived from the original on 8 August 2019.
  15. "Plans revised for HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2021". World Rugby. 29 July 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.

Sources
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