2015–16 World Rugby Sevens Series

2015–16 World Rugby Sevens
Series XVII
Hosts
Date4 Dec 2015 – 22 May 2016
Final positions
Champions Fiji
Runners-up South Africa
Third New Zealand

The 2015–16 World Rugby Sevens Series, known for sponsorship reasons as the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, was the 17th annual series of rugby union sevens tournaments for national men's rugby sevens teams. The Sevens Series has been run by World Rugby since 1999–2000. This season, the series expanded from nine to ten events.[1]

Core teams

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Fourteen teams from the 2014-15 season retained core status for the 2015–16 season. A fifteenth team, Russia, claimed core team status for the 2015–16 series at the 2015 Hong Kong Sevens qualifier. The core teams were:

Russia replaced Japan, which lost core team status having finished last of the fifteen core teams in the 2014–15 Sevens World Series.

Tour venues

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The official schedule for the 2015–16 World Rugby Sevens Series was as follows:[2]

2015–16 Venues
Leg Stadium City Date Winner
Dubai The Sevens Dubai 4–5 December 2015  Fiji
South Africa Cape Town Stadium Cape Town 12–13 December 2015  South Africa
New Zealand Westpac Stadium Wellington 30–31 January 2016  New Zealand
Australia Allianz Stadium Sydney 6–7 February 2016  New Zealand
United States Sam Boyd Stadium Las Vegas 4–6 March 2016  Fiji
Canada BC Place Vancouver 12–13 March 2016  New Zealand
Hong Kong Hong Kong Stadium Hong Kong 8–10 April 2016  Fiji
Singapore National Stadium Singapore 16–17 April 2016  Kenya
France Stade Jean-Bouin Paris 13–15 May 2016  Samoa
England Twickenham Stadium London 21–22 May 2016  Scotland

Changes

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There were three new tournaments in the series, with two events being discontinued:

Two other existing tournaments had venue changes:

Standings

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Final standings after completion of the ten tournaments in the series:

2015–16 World Rugby Sevens – Series XVII
 
Pos.
Event 
Team

Dubai

Cape Town

Well­ington

Sydney

Las Vegas

Van­couver

Hong Kong

Singa­pore

Paris

London
Points
total
   
1  Fiji 22 13 17 17 22 15 22 19 19 15 181
2  South Africa 13 22 19 15 17 19 17 17 13 19 171
3  New Zealand 15 10 22 22 13 22 19 12 10 13 158
4  Australia 12 10 13 19 19 17 15 10 12 7 134
5  Argentina 10 19 12 13 10 5 8 15 15 12 119
6  United States 17 12 10 10 15 12 12 7 5 17 117
7  Kenya 5 15 10 12 10 1 10 22 10 3 98
8  England 19 7 15 10 1 5 13 5 7 10 92
9  Samoa 10 3 8 7 3 13 5 13 22 5 89
10  Scotland 7 8 7 5 5 10 7 8 8 22 87
11  France 8 17 3 1 7 7 5 10 17 10 85
12  Wales 5 5 1 3 8 10 10 2 2 8 54
13  Canada 3 5 5 8 2 8 2 1 1 5 40
14  Russia 1 2 2 2 5 3 3 3 5 2 28
15  Japan 2 5 1 12 1 21
16  Portugal 1 1 1 5 1 2 1 5 3 1 21
17  Brazil 1 1 1 3
18  Zimbabwe 1 1
19  South Korea 1 1

Source: World Rugby. Archived [6]

Legend
No colour Core team in 2015–16 and re-qualified as a core team for the 2016–17 World Rugby Sevens Series
Pink Relegated as the lowest placed core team at the end of the 2015–16 season
Yellow Not a core team

Tournaments

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Dubai

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The opening event of the season saw Fiji starting their defense of the title by taking out the opening event of the season in Dubai. On the opening day of competition, Fiji, South Africa and England each recorded three straight wins to finish on top. New Zealand finished on top in their group but not before losing to the United States in Pool C.[7]

South Africa got knocked out in the quarter-finals by the United States but would still end up taking home the plate after they defeated Australia in the final. While for Fiji, they would take the Dubai Sevens after they initially came from behind to win against England and taking the early lead.[8]

Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  Fiji 28–17  England  United States (third place)
 New Zealand
Plate  South Africa 19–14  Australia  Argentina
 Samoa
Bowl  France 24–14  Scotland  Kenya
 Wales
Shield  Canada 19–17  Japan  Portugal
 Russia

South Africa

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After Dubai, the teams had a back to back with Cape Town being the next stop in the series.

Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  South Africa 29–14  Argentina  France (third place)
 Kenya
Plate  Fiji 29–19  United States  Australia
 New Zealand
Bowl  Scotland 19–0  England  Canada
 Wales
Shield  Samoa 40–5  Russia  Portugal
 Zimbabwe

New Zealand

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  New Zealand 24–21  South Africa  Fiji (third place)
 England
Plate  Australia 21–5  Argentina  Kenya
 United States
Bowl  Samoa 19–7  Scotland  Japan
 Canada
Shield  France 14–7  Russia  Portugal
 Wales

Australia

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  New Zealand 27–24  Australia  Fiji (third place)
 South Africa
Plate  Argentina 24–0  Kenya  United States
 England
Bowl  Canada 17–12  Samoa  Scotland
 Portugal
Shield  Wales 26–19  Russia  Japan
 France

United States

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  Fiji 21–15  Australia  South Africa (third place)
 United States
Plate  New Zealand 27–7  Japan  Kenya
 Argentina
Bowl  Wales 21–7  France  Russia
 Scotland
Shield  Samoa 24–12  Canada  England
 Portugal

Canada

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  New Zealand 19–14  South Africa  Australia (third place)
 Fiji
Plate  Samoa 31–19  United States  Wales
 Scotland
Bowl  Canada 19–17  France  Argentina
 England
Shield  Russia 17–10  Portugal  Kenya
 Brazil

Hong Kong

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  Fiji 21-7  New Zealand  South Africa (third place)
 Australia
Plate  England 19–0  United States  Wales
 Kenya
Bowl  Argentina 26–0  Scotland  France
 Samoa
Shield  Russia 19–14  Canada  South Korea
 Portugal

Singapore

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  Kenya 30–7  Fiji  South Africa (third place)
 Argentina
Plate  Samoa 26–21  New Zealand  Australia
 France
Bowl  Scotland 14–10  United States  England
 Portugal
Shield  Russia 24–7  Wales  Japan
 Canada

France

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  Samoa 29 –26  Fiji  France (third place)
 Argentina
Plate  South Africa 17 – 7  Australia  New Zealand
 Kenya
Bowl  Scotland 28 – 10  England  Russia
 United States
Shield  Portugal 24 – 19  Wales  Canada
 Brazil

England

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  Scotland 27 –26  South Africa  United States (third place)
 Fiji
Plate  New Zealand 29 –14  Argentina  France
 England
Bowl  Wales 24 –19  Australia  Canada
 Samoa
Shield  Kenya 31 –7  Russia  Brazil
 Portugal

Team statistics

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Rank
Team Matches Points Ø-Points Tries Ø-Tries
1  Fiji 48 1368 28.50 213 4.44
2  South Africa 48 1199 24.98 187 3.90
3  Australia 46 971 21.11 153 3.33
4  New Zealand 47 964 20.51 156 3.32
5  United States 46 962 20.91 152 3.30
6  Samoa 46 877 19.07 140 3.04
7  Canada 45 864 19.20 140 3.11
8  France 45 829 18.42 131 2.91
9  England 44 760 17.27 118 2.68
10  Kenya 43 751 17.47 120 2.79
11  Scotland 45 745 16.56 119 2.64
12  Argentina 45 740 16.44 116 2.58
13  Wales 43 738 17.16 116 2.70
14  Russia 46 546 11.87 92 2.00
15  Japan 27 442 16.37 70 2.59
16  Portugal 41 332 8.10 54 1.32
17  South Korea 5 35 7.00 5 1.00
18  Brazil 5 19 3.80 3 0.60
19  Zimbabwe 5 17 3.40 3 0.60

Players

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Scoring leaders

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Tries scored
Rank Player Tries
1 South Africa Seabelo Senatla 66
2 United States Perry Baker 48
3 Samoa Samoa Toloa 37
4 Fiji Savenaca Rawaca 35
5 Kenya Collins Injera 32
Points scored
Rank Player Points
1 United States Madison Hughes 331
2 South Africa Seabelo Senatla 330
3 Canada Nathan Hirayama 295
4 Fiji Vatemo Ravouvou 287
5 United States Perry Baker 240

Updated: 24 May 2016

Dream Team

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Gosper: Monumental 12 months for rugby sevens ahead". WorldRugby.org (Press release). 31 March 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  2. ^ "HSBC partners with World Rugby for record-breaking sevens properties". Australian Rugby. 30 June 2015. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  3. ^ Kingston, Gary (23 February 2015). "BC Place to host World Rugby Sevens". Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on 2 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  4. ^ "Australian leg of rugby Sevens World Series set to move to Sydney from Gold Coast in 2016". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  5. ^ "Cape Town confirmed as Sevens host". Sport24. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  6. ^ "HSBC Sevens World Series Standings". World Rugby. Archived from the original on 22 June 2016.
  7. ^ "Top two reign supreme, while USA create drama in sizzling Dubai". World Rugby. 4 December 2015. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  8. ^ "Supreme Fiji lift Dubai title". World Rugby. 5 December 2015. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  9. ^ "HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series awards: As it happened!", World Rugby. Accessed 23 May 2016.
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