2021–22 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series

The 2021–22 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series was the ninth edition of the global circuit for women's national rugby sevens teams, organised by World Rugby. The ninth edition was meant to be played a year earlier, but the 2021 Series was cancelled due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

2021–22 World Rugby Women's Sevens
Series IX
Hosts
Date26 November 2021 – 22 May 2022
Final positions
Champions Australia (3rd title)
Runners-up France
Third Fiji
Team changes
Promoted Japan
Relegated Russia
Series details
Top try scorer Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (36 tries)
Top point scorer Jade Ulutule (226 points)
← ← 2021 (cancelled)
2019–20

Australia won the series at the second-last event in Canada,[1] winning four out of the six events on the tour to claim their third World Series title.[2] France, Fiji and Ireland placed second, third and fourth, respectively, which was the best finish achieved by all three teams in the World Series.

The 2021–22 series was affected by ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, with two of the eleven core teams not able to compete in all six events as a result. The defending series champions New Zealand missed the first four events due to travel-related restrictions,[3] and Fiji was forced to withdraw from both tournaments in Spain due to positive COVID-19 tests in their squad.[4]

A further two core teams also only played in four of the six events. England was replaced by a united Great Britain team for the first two tournaments in Dubai,[5] and Russia was banned from competing following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[6]

Core teams

Due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the core teams were unchanged from the shortened 2019–20 series and cancelled 2021 season.[7][8] The eleven core teams qualified to participate in all events for 2021–22 were:

Notes
  1. Brazil had core team status for the cancelled 2020–21 series, after winning the qualifier event in 2019,[9] and retained that status for 2021–22.
  2. Russia was suspended from all international rugby, including the 2021–22 World Sevens Series for women's teams, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[6][10]

Tour venues

The schedule for the series was:[11][12]

2021–22 Itinerary
Leg Stadium City Dates Winner
Dubai (2 events) The SevensDubai 26–27 November 2021 Australia
3–4 December 2021 Australia
Spain (2 events) Estadio Ciudad de MálagaMálaga 21–23 January 2022 United States
Estadio de La CartujaSeville 28–30 January 2022 Australia
Canada Westhills StadiumLangford 30 April – 1 May 2022 Australia
France Stade Ernest-Wallon [13]Toulouse 20–22 May 2022 New Zealand

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

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.[14] This system excluded the two lowest-scored rounds from each team in the final standings. So, with six tournaments in the series, only the best four tournament results for each team contributed to the ranking points.[14]

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 in the event column if a team did not compete at a tournament.

2021–22 World Rugby Sevens – Women's Series IX
 
Pos
Event 
Team
Dubai I
Dubai II
Má­laga
Se­ville
Lang­ford
Tou­louse		 Total
points		 Rank­ing
points
 
1  Australia 202016†202018†114 80
2  France 16161412†1412†84  60[lower-alpha 1]
3  Fiji[lower-alpha 2] 1818—1†—†81661  60[lower-alpha 1]
4  Ireland 4†8†1218161472  60[lower-alpha 1]
5  New Zealand[lower-alpha 3] —†—†——182038  57[lower-alpha 3]
6  United States 8†122014108†72 56
7  Canada 6†6†108121052 40
8  Russia[lower-alpha 4] 14141810——56  37[lower-alpha 4]
9  England[lower-alpha 5] —6—2†81631†40 33
10  Spain 3†104662†31 26
11 Brazil 104†2†44630 24
12 Great Britain[lower-alpha 5] 123————15 15
13 Poland ——63——9 9
14 Belgium ——32——5 5
15 Scotland[lower-alpha 5] —————44 4
16 South Africa —————33 3
17 Japan ————2—2 2
18 Portugal ———1——1  1[lower-alpha 6]
19 Mexico ————1—1  1[lower-alpha 6]

Source: World Rugby[5]

Legend
No colour Core team in 2021–22 and re-qualified as a core team for the following season
Black Banned from participating in the 2021–22 series from 28 February 2022 onwards
Yellow Invited team
Notes
  1. Tie-breaker margin of points scored for and against (from all matches in only the best four tournaments for each team, respectively): France +280, Fiji +137, Ireland +101.[15]
  2. Fiji withdrew from both events in Spain following positive COVID-19 tests in their squad.[4] The team was not replaced for Málaga,[16] however, and their opponents advanced by walkover in that tournament. As such, Fiji was placed twelfth in Málaga, despite not playing, and received one point toward their season standings.[5]
  3. New Zealand missed the first four tournaments due to travel logistics and travel-related restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic.[3][17] The New Zealand team missed two-thirds of the season and the methodology used to calculate the team's points for the series is yet to be clarified. However, it seems that New Zealand's points for the series were increased by one-half, from 38 points to 57.[5]
  4. Russia competed at the first four events but was banned from the remainder of the series on 28 February 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[10] As the team was suspended for one-third of the season, Russia's points for the series were reduced by one-third, from 56 points to 37.[5]
  5. Great Britain represented England, Scotland and Wales in 2021 for the first two events of the series in Dubai. In 2022, England and Scotland competed in their own right.[12] England, as a core team, received half of the points earned by Great Britain in the first two rounds: six points for Dubai I, and two points for Dubai II.[5]
  6. Tie-breaker margin of points scored for and against in all matches: Portugal –211, Mexico −228.

Placings summary

Tallies of top four tournament placings during the 2021–22 series, by team:

Team 1st place, gold medalist(s) Gold 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Silver 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Bronze Fourth Total
 Australia 411—6
 New Zealand 11——2
 United States 1——12
 Fiji —21—3
 Russia —1—23
 Ireland —1113
 France ——224
 England ——1—1

Statistics

Points

Updated: 22 May 2022

Performance

Updated: 22 May 2022

Tournaments

Dubai I
Main article: 2021 Dubai Women's Sevens I
Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  Australia 22–7  Fiji  France (Bronze)

 Russia

5th Place  Great Britain 22–21  Brazil  United States (7th)

 Canada

9th Place  Ireland 31–14  Spain

Dubai II
Main article: 2021 Dubai Women's Sevens II
Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  Australia 15–5  Fiji  France (Bronze)

 Russia

5th Place  United States 7–5  Spain  Ireland (7th)

 Canada

9th Place  Brazil 26–24  Great Britain

Malaga
Main article: 2022 Malaga Women's Sevens
Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  United States 35–10  Russia  Australia (Bronze)

 France

5th Place  Ireland 26–5  Canada  England (7th)

 Poland

9th Place  Spain 17–5  Belgium  Brazil (11th)

 Fiji

Seville
Main article: 2022 Seville Women's Sevens
Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  Australia 17–12  Ireland  England (Bronze)

 United States

5th Place  France 26–10  Russia  Canada (7th)

 Spain

9th Place  Brazil 17–5  Poland  Belgium (11th)

 Portugal

Langford
Main article: 2022 Canada Women's Sevens
Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  Australia 21–17  New Zealand  Ireland (Bronze)

 France

5th Place  Canada 12–7  United States  Fiji (7th)

 Spain

9th Place  Brazil 24–7  England  Japan (11th)

 Mexico

Toulouse
Main article: 2022 France Women's Sevens
Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  New Zealand 21–14  Australia  Fiji (Bronze)

 Ireland

5th Place  France 19–14  Canada  United States (7th)

 Brazil

9th Place  Scotland 24–10  South Africa  Spain (11th)

 England

See also

References
  1. "Australia clinch overall 2022 series title while late Lily Dick try gives them Cup win in Langford". World Rugby. 2 May 2022.
  2. "Aussies win World Title in Sevens power shift". rugby.com.au. 2 May 2022.
  3. "HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2022 preview". Dubai Rugby Sevens. 16 November 2021. Archived from the original on 17 November 2021.
  4. Naivalurua, Navitalai (21 January 2022). "Fiji Men's and Women's 7s teams pull out of Spain tournaments". Fiji Village.
  5. "Women's Standings". world.rugby. Archived from the original on 23 May 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  6. "World Rugby confirms sporting sanctions for Russia and Belarus". world.rugby. 28 February 2022.
  7. "World Rugby cancels Sevens events in Cape Town and Singapore". ESPN. 4 September 2021. Archived from the original on 4 September 2021.
  8. "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.
  9. "Brazil win Core Qualifiers in Hong Kong". Americas Rugby. 5 April 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  10. "Rugby sevens competitions update following suspension of Russia". world.rugby. 10 March 2022.
  11. "HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series". World.Rugby. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  12. "HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2022 schedule unveiled". World Rugby. 12 October 2021.
  13. "Toulouse to host World Rugby Sevens date". Barrons. 12 October 2021.
  14. "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.
  15. Women's Day 3 and Final Highlights from Toulouse (Television production). World Rugby. 22 May 2022. Event occurs at 7:23.
  16. "HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series heads to Spain as pools and schedule are updated". World Rugby. 13 January 2022.
  17. "World Sevens Series: New Zealand withdraw from Spain tournaments". planetrugby.com. Planet Rugby. 14 January 2022.
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