IRB Sevens World Series

Infobox sports league
current_season=2008-09 IRB Sevens World Series
logo=IRB_Sevens_logo.jpg
pixels=146px
sport=Rugby union
founded=1999
teams=24
country=Worldwide
champion=flagicon|New Zealand New Zealand

The IRB Sevens World Series, known officially as the IRB Sevens before the 2006-07 season and also sometimes called the World Sevens Series, is a series of international rugby union sevens tournaments organised for the first time in the 1999-2000 season. The tournaments, run by the International Rugby Board, feature national sevens teams. The series was first formed to develop an elite-level competition series between rugby nations and develop the Sevens game into a viable commercial product of the IRB. In 2005-06, the tour received 1147 hours of air time, 530 of which was live, and was broadcast to 136 countries. [http://www.sportbusiness.com/news/160101/irb-announces-record-tv-figures]

Teams compete for the Sevens World Series title by accumulating points based on their finishing position in each tournament. Each season's circuit currently consists of eight tournaments in seven countries, and visits five of the six populated continents. The United Arab Emirates, South Africa, New Zealand, United States, the Chinese region of Hong Kong, Australia, England and Scotland each host one event. Depending on the venue and scheduling of the quadrennial Rugby World Cup Sevens, one of the tournaments may be folded into the World Cup. For example, because the 2005 World Cup was held in Hong Kong and scheduled for roughly the same time as the annual Hong Kong Sevens, the Hong Kong Sevens was folded into the World Cup. However, none of the 2008-09 events will be folded into the 2009 World Cup, as that year's World Cup will fall three weeks after the USA Sevens and three weeks before the Hong Kong Sevens.

Sevens is a stripped-down version of rugby union with seven players each side on a normal-sized field, rather than the normal fifteen. Games are much shorter, lasting only seven or ten minutes each half, and tend to be very fast-paced, open, affairs. Sevens is traditionally played in a two-day tournament format, with the Hong Kong Sevens (an anomaly as a three-day event) being the most famous. The game is quicker and higher-scoring than 15-a-side rugby and the rules are far simpler, which explains part of its appeal. It also gives players the space for superb feats of individual skill. New Zealand and Fiji are traditionally the strongest teams, although in recent years Argentina, Australia, England, France and South Africa have all won tournaments, and Samoa ran the two favourites very close for the World Series title in the 2006-07 season.

Tournaments

*Dubai (The Sevens [cite web|url=http://www.irb.com/rwcsevens/news/newsid=2025888.html#emirates+unveils+dubai+venue+the+sevens |title=Emirates unveils Dubai venue 'The Sevens' |publisher=International Rugby Board |date=2008-07-02 |accessdate=2008-09-17] ): November 28-29, 2008
*South Africa, George (Outeniqua Park, George): December 5-6, 2008
*New Zealand (Westpac Stadium, Wellington): February 6-7, 2009
*USA (PETCO Park, San Diego, California): February 14-15, 2009
*Hong Kong (Hong Kong Stadium): March 27-29, 2009
*Adelaide, Australia (Adelaide Oval, Adelaide): April 4-5, 2009
*London (Twickenham): May 23-24, 2009
*Scotland, Edinburgh (Murrayfield, Edinburgh): May 30-31, 2009

Seasons

Season format

In a normal event, 16 teams are entered; in Hong Kong, 24 teams enter. In each tournament, the teams are divided into pools of four teams, who play a round-robin within the pool. Points are awarded in each pool on a different schedule from most rugby tournaments—3 for a win, 2 for a draw, 1 for a loss, 0 for a no-show. In case teams are tied after pool play, the tiebreakers are:cite web|url=http://www.irbsevens.com/NR/rdonlyres/7A7C20FC-056B-4CE6-B5A5-D4F6ECBF40F7/0/061026SL7sguidegeneric.pdf |title=2006-07 IRB Sevens World Series Media Guide |format=PDF |publisher=International Rugby Board |accessmonthday=February 10 |accessyear=2007]

#Head-to-head result between the tied teams.
#Difference in points scored and allowed during pool play.
#Difference in tries scored and allowed during pool play.
#Points scored during pool play.
#Coin toss.

Four trophies are awarded in each tournament, except for Hong Kong. In descending order of prestige, they are the Cup, whose winner is the overall tournament champion, Plate, Bowl and Shield. In Hong Kong, the Shield is not awarded. Each trophy is awarded at the end of a knockout tournament.

In a normal event, the top two teams in each pool advance to the Cup competition. The four quarterfinal losers drop into the bracket for the Plate. The Bowl is contested by the third and fourth-place finishers in each pool, while the Shield is Contested by the losing quarter-finalists of the bowl.

In Hong Kong, the six pool winners, plus the two highest-finishing second-place teams, advance to the Cup. The Plate participants are the eight highest-ranked teams remaining, while the lowest eight drop to the Bowl.

Points schedule

The season championship is determined by points earned in each tournament. For a 16-team event, applicable to all current legs in the series except for Hong Kong, points are awarded on the following schedule:
*Cup winner (1st place): 20 points
*Cup runner-up: 16 points
*Losing Cup semifinalists: 12 points
*Plate winner (5th place): 8 points
*Plate runner-up: 6 points
*Losing Plate semifinalists: 4 points
*Bowl winner (9th place): 2 points

Points are awarded on a different schedule in a 24-team event, such as Hong Kong:
*Cup winner: 30 points
*Cup runner-up: 24 points
*Losing Cup semifinalists: 18 points
*Losing Cup quarterfinalists: 8 points
*Plate winner (9th place): 4 points
*Plate runner-up: 3 points
*Losing Plate semifinalists: 2 points
*Bowl winner (17th place): 1 point

If two or more teams are level on series points at the end of the season, the following tiebreakers are used to determine placement:
#Overall difference in points scored and allowed during the season.
#Total try count during the season.
#If neither of the above produces a winner, the teams are considered tied.

See also

* Rugby sevens
* Hong Kong Sevens
* Rugby World Cup Sevens

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.irbsevens.com The official tournament homepage]
* [http://www.rugby7.com US-based sevens website]
* [http://www.planet-rugby.com/Tournaments/World_Sevens/index.shtml World Sevens news from Planet Rugby]
* [http://rugbyrugby.com RugbyRugby.com] world rugby news website
* [http://www.manusamoa.net Supporters website of the Manu Samoa ]