World Rugby
Women's Sevens Series VIII
Hosts
Date5 October 2019 – 2 February 2020
Final positions
Champions New Zealand
Runners-up Australia
Third Canada
Series details
Top try scorerStacey Fluhler (31)
Top point scorerAlev Kelter (171)
(cancelled) 2021 →
2021–22 →

The 2019–20 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series was the eighth edition of the global circuit for women's national rugby sevens teams, organised by World Rugby.

Only five of the originally scheduled eight tournaments were completed before the series was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic.[1] New Zealand was awarded the series title at the end of June 2020, leading by 16 points over second-placed Australia.[2]

The events planned for Hong Kong,[3] Langford and Paris were postponed,[4] before eventually being cancelled.[2]

Format

Twelve nations competed at each event,[5] drawn into three pools of four teams.[6] The top-placed teams after the pool matches at each tournament played off for a Cup, with gold, silver and bronze medals also awarded to the first three teams.[7] The winner of the series was determined by the overall points standings gained across all events in the season.[8]

Teams

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

Brazil was promoted to core team status after winning the World Series qualifier held in Hong Kong in 2019,[9] replacing China who were relegated after finishing as the lowest-placed core team in 2018–19.

Tour venues

The original itinerary for the 2019–20 women's circuit included three new legs to be played in Cape Town,[10] Hamilton and Hong Kong,[11] although only the first two were able to be played. The women's Tokyo Sevens was not included in the series due to the Olympic Sevens being scheduled there instead.

After all tournaments planned for the second quarter of 2020 were cancelled, the series was reduced from eight legs to five. All but one of the completed legs were combined sevens tournaments with their corresponding events from the men's World Series,[12][13] with only the Glendale tournament hosted as a stand-alone women's event.[14]

2019–20 Itinerary
Leg Stadium City Dates Winner
United States Infinity ParkGlendale (Denver) 5–6 October 2019 United States
Dubai The SevensDubai 5–7 December 2019 New Zealand
South Africa Cape Town StadiumCape Town 13–15 December 2019 New Zealand
New Zealand Waikato StadiumHamilton 25–26 January 2020 New Zealand
Australia Bankwest Stadium [15]Sydney 1–2 February 2020 New Zealand

The tournaments planned for Hong Kong (3–5 April 2020), Langford (2–3 May 2020) and Paris (30–31 May 2020),[16] were ultimately cancelled due to health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2]

Standings

Official standings for the 2019–20 series:

2019–20 World Rugby Women's Sevens
Series VIII
 
Pos
Event 
Team
Glen­dale
Dubai
Cape Town
Hamil­ton
Sydney		 Points
total
1  New Zealand 162020202096
2  Australia 181418141680[lower-alpha 1]
3  Canada 101816181880[lower-alpha 1]
4  France 141214161470
5  United States 20161212666
6  Russia 81068840
7  Fiji 281061238
8  England 448101036
9  Spain 12643328
10  Ireland 6322215
11  Japan 31——48
12  Brazil[lower-alpha 2] 121116
13  China ———4—4
14  South Africa ——3——3

Source: World Rugby

Legend
No colour Core team in 2019–20 and re-qualified as a core team for the next World Rugby Women's Sevens Series
Yellow Invitational team

Placings summary

Tallies of top four tournament placings during the 2019–20 series, by team:

Team 1st place, gold medalist(s) Gold 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Silver 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Bronze Fourth Total
 New Zealand 4–1–5
 United States 1–1–2
 Canada –31–4
 Australia –2125
 France ––134
Totals 555520

Tournaments

Glendale

Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  United States 26–7  Australia  New Zealand (Bronze)
 France
5th Place  Spain 12–7  Canada  Russia
 Ireland
Challenge Trophy  England 36–14  Japan  Brazil
 Fiji

Dubai*

Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  New Zealand 17–14  Canada  United States (Bronze)
 Australia
9th Place  England 26–21  Ireland -
11th Place  Brazil 14-12  Japan -

Cape Town*

Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  New Zealand 17–7  Australia  Canada (Bronze)
 France
9th Place  Spain 19–7  South Africa -
11th Place  Ireland 26-7  Brazil -

* 5th Place and Challenge Trophy not contested

Players

Tries scored

RankPlayerTries
1 New Zealand Stacey Fluhler31
2 Australia Ellia Green26
3 United States Alev Kelter21
4 Canada Bianca Farella18
5 Australia Emma Tonegato18

Points scored

RankPlayerPoints
1 United States Alev Kelter171
2 Canada Ghislaine Landry170
3 Australia Ellia Green164
4 New Zealand Stacey Fluhler155
5 New Zealand Tyla Nathan-Wong139

Updated: 4 February 2020

Awards

Impact player awards
Tour Leg Player Points
Glendale Australia Charlotte Caslick63
Dubai New Zealand Stacey Fluhler78
Cape Town France Séraphine Okemba58
Hamilton New Zealand Michaela Blyde59
Sydney France Shannon Izar56
Total impact player points
Pos Player T B O C Total
1 New Zealand Stacey Fluhler163824101279
2 Australia Emma Tonegato511816105242
3 France Coralie Bertrand48103084222
4 Canada Bianca Farella47161595220
5 New Zealand Kelly Brazier73121580219
6 United States Alev Kelter272310101217
7 Australia Ellia Green26241190210
8 Fiji Ana Maria Naimasi27172171191
9 France Camille Grassineau5661873183
10 Russia Baizat Khamidova42101873181

Updated: 4 February 2020

See also

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 Point differential: Australia +367, Canada +233.
  2. ↑ World Rugby announced that there would be no relegation from the 2019–20 core teams as the inaugural Challenger Series qualifying event for women's teams scheduled for March 2020 was not able to take place. Therefore, Brazil, who would have been relegated as the lowest placed core team, re-qualified as a core team for the next World Rugby Women's Sevens Series.[2]

Citations

  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. 1 2 3 4 "New Zealand awarded titles as HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020 concluded". World Rugby. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  3. ↑ "World Rugby Statement: Singapore and Hong Kong Sevens rescheduled". World.Rugby. 13 February 2020.
  4. ↑ "Coronavirus: World Rugby forced into mass cancellations". The New Zealand Herald. 21 March 2020.
  5. ↑ Tournament Rules 2018, p. 2.
  6. ↑ Tournament Rules 2018, p. 3.
  7. ↑ Tournament Rules 2018, pp. 3–5.
  8. ↑ Tournament Rules 2018, pp. 2–3.
  9. ↑ "Brazil win Core Qualifiers in Hong Kong". Americas Rugby. 5 April 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  10. ↑ Breakfast, Sivewe (18 July 2019). "Cape Town Sevens dates confirmed: Women's event added to extended 2019 tournament". The South African. Archived from the original on 21 July 2019.
  11. ↑ Navzi, Careem (13 March 2019). "Hong Kong Rugby Sevens to include women's event for first time from 2020 in revamped World Series". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 13 March 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  12. ↑ "World Rugby announces new-look men's and women's HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2019-23". world.rugby. 13 March 2019. Archived from the original on 25 March 2019.
  13. ↑ "Schedule announced for HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020". World.Rugby. 8 August 2019. Archived from the original on 8 August 2019.
  14. ↑ "HSBC World Rugby Women's Sevens Series". world.rugby. Archived from the original on 21 July 2019.
  15. ↑ "HSBC Sydney 7s heads to Bankwest Stadium". Rugby Australia. 3 June 2019. Archived from the original on 4 June 2019.
  16. ↑ "Schedule announced for HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020". World Rugby. 8 August 2019. Archived from the original on 8 August 2019.

Sources

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