2018–19 World Rugby Sevens Series

2018–19 World Rugby Sevens
Series XX
Hosts
Date30 Nov 2018 – 2 Jun 2019
Nations21
Final positions
Champions Fiji
Runners-up United States
Third New Zealand
Series details
Top try scorer Carlin Isles (52)
Top point scorer Andrew Knewstubb (307)

The 2018–19 World Rugby Sevens Series, known for sponsorship reasons as the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, was the 20th 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. This series also, for the second time, doubled as a qualifier for the 2020 Summer Olympics, with the top four countries qualifying automatically.

Fiji finished first in the Series, winning five of the ten tournaments. The United States finished in a best-ever second place, reaching the semifinals in all ten tournaments. The relegation battle was a three-way competition going into the final rounds involving Japan, Kenya, and Wales, with Japan finishing last to be relegated from the Series next season. The World Series Qualifier tournament saw Ireland promoted to core status for the first time for the 2019–20 season.

Core teams

Japan was promoted to core team status for the season after winning the 2018 Hong Kong Sevens qualifier. They replaced Russia, which was relegated after finishing as the last place core team on the 2017–18 World Rugby Sevens Series.

Tour venues

The official schedule for the 2018–19 World Rugby Sevens Series was:[1]

2018–19 Venues
Leg Stadium City Dates Winner
United Arab Emirates The Sevens Stadium Dubai 30 November – 1 December 2018  New Zealand
South Africa Cape Town Stadium Cape Town 8–9 December 2018  Fiji
New Zealand FMG Stadium Waikato Hamilton 26–27 January 2019  Fiji
Australia Spotless Stadium Sydney 2–3 February 2019  New Zealand
United States Sam Boyd Stadium Las Vegas 1–3 March 2019  United States
Canada BC Place Vancouver 9–10 March 2019  South Africa
Hong Kong Hong Kong Stadium Hong Kong 5–7 April 2019  Fiji
Singapore National Stadium Singapore 13–14 April 2019  South Africa
England Twickenham Stadium London 25–26 May 2019  Fiji
France Stade Jean-Bouin Paris 1–2 June 2019  Fiji

Standings

Official standings for the 2018–19 series were:

2018–19 World Rugby Sevens – Series XX
 
Pos.
Event 
Team

Dubai

Cape Town

Hamil­ton

Sydney

Las Vegas

Van­couver

Hong Kong

Singa­pore

London

Paris
Points
total
   
1  Fiji 13 22 22 15 12 17 22 19 22 22 186
2  United States 19 19 19 19 22 15 17 15 17 15 177
3  New Zealand 22 15 17 22 17 13 12 12 13 19 162
4  South Africa 12 17 15 13 10 22 10 22 10 17 148
5  England[GB 1] 17 13 8 17 13 12 10 17 2 5 114
6  Samoa 8 7 12 3 19 10 15 13 8 12 107
7  Australia 15 10 10 12 10 8 5 10 19 5 104
8  France 7 5 2 10 1 19 19 8 15 13 99
9  Argentina 10 8 5 8 15 10 13 10 5 10 94
10  Scotland 10 10 13 1 8 5 8 7 7 3 72
11  Canada 5 5 10 5 3 7 1 5 10 8 59
12  Spain 5 12 5 10 7 3 3 2 1 1 49
13  Kenya 1 3 7 1 5 1 5 3 1 10 37
14  Wales 3 2 1 5 2 5 2 5 5 1 31
15  Japan 2 1 1 7 1 2 7 1 3 2 27
16  Ireland 12 7 19
17  Chile 5 1 6
18  Tonga 3 2 5
19  Zimbabwe 1 1 2
20  Portugal 1 1
21  Hong Kong 1 1

Source: World Rugby

Legend
No colour Core team in 2018–19 and re-qualified as a core team for the 2019–20 World Rugby Sevens Series
Pink Relegated as the lowest placed core team at the end of the 2018–19 series
Yellow Not a core team
Qualified to the 2020 Olympic Sevens as one of the four highest placed eligible teams from the 2018–19 series.[2]
  1. ^ By agreement between the three unions on the island of Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales), England, as highest finisher among those nations in the 2017–18 series, represented Great Britain in qualifying for the 2020 Olympic Sevens.[3] The final make-up of the Great Britain men's team was determined by the British Olympic Association.

Placings summary

Tallies of top four tournament placings during the 2018–19 series, by team:

Team 1st place, gold medalist(s) Gold 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Silver 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Bronze Fourth Total
 Fiji 5 1 1 1 8
 New Zealand 2 1 2 1 6
 South Africa 2 2 1 5
 United States 1 4 2 3 10
 France 2 1 3
 Australia 1 1 2
 Samoa 1 1 2
 England 3 3
 Argentina 1 1
Totals 10 10 10 10 40

Players

Scoring leaders

Tries scored
Rank Player Tries
1 Carlin Isles 52
2 Aminiasi Tuimaba 46
3 Dan Norton 39
Max McFarland
5 Alasio Naduva 37
Points scored
Rank Player Points
1 Andrew Knewstubb 307
2 Madison Hughes 299
3 Carlin Isles 260
4 Nathan Hirayama 254
5 Jean-Pascal Barraque 244

Updated: 2 June 2019

Dream Team

Forwards Backs
United States Stephen Tomasin
United States Ben Pinkelman
Fiji Meli Derenalagi
United States Folau Niua
Fiji Jerry Tuwai
Fiji Vilimoni Botitu
Fiji Aminiasi Tuimaba

Impact award

Updated: 26 May 2019

Coach of the Series: Mike Friday, U.S. head coach[4]

Tournaments

Dubai

Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  New Zealand 21–5  United States  England (Bronze)
 Australia
5th Place  Fiji 24–19  South Africa  Argentina
 Scotland
Challenge Trophy  Samoa 33–24  France  Canada
 Spain
13th Place  Wales 31–7  Japan  Kenya
 Zimbabwe

Cape Town

Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  Fiji 29–15  United States  South Africa (Bronze)
 New Zealand
5th Place  England 14–7  Spain  Australia
 Scotland
Challenge Trophy  Argentina 38–14  Samoa  Canada
 France
13th Place  Kenya 33–26  Wales  Japan
 Zimbabwe

Hamilton

Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  Fiji 38–0  United States  New Zealand (Bronze)
 South Africa
5th Place  Scotland 24–19  Samoa  Australia
 Canada
Challenge Trophy  England 36–7  Kenya  Argentina
 Spain
13th Place  Tonga 33–10  France  Japan
 Wales

Sydney

Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  New Zealand 21–5  United States  England (Bronze)
 Fiji
5th Place  South Africa 12–10  Australia  France
 Spain
Challenge Trophy  Argentina 10–7  Japan  Wales
 Canada
13th Place  Samoa 25–5  Tonga  Kenya
 Scotland

Las Vegas

Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  United States 27–0  Samoa  New Zealand (Bronze)
 Argentina
5th Place  England 19–14  Fiji  South Africa
 Australia
Challenge Trophy  Scotland 15–14  Spain  Kenya
 Chile
13th Place  Canada 21–12  Wales  Japan
 France

Vancouver

Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  South Africa 21–12  France  Fiji (Bronze)
 United States
5th Place  New Zealand 26–19  England  Argentina
 Samoa
Challenge Trophy  Australia 35–21  Canada  Wales
 Scotland
13th Place  Spain 15–10  Japan  Kenya
 Chile

Hong Kong

Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  Fiji 21–7  France  United States (Bronze)
 Samoa
5th Place  Argentina 21–14  New Zealand  South Africa
 England
Challenge Trophy  Scotland 26–24  Japan  Australia
 Kenya
13th Place  Spain 19–14 (a.e.t)  Wales  Canada
 Portugal
World Series Qualifier  Ireland 28–7  Hong Kong  Germany
 Chile

Singapore

Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  South Africa 20–19  Fiji  England (Bronze)
 United States
5th Place  Samoa 19–17  New Zealand  Australia
 Argentina
Challenge Trophy  France 22-19  Scotland  Canada
 Wales
13th Place  Kenya 21-5  Spain  Japan
 Hong Kong

London

Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  Fiji 43–7  Australia  United States (Bronze)
 France
5th Place  New Zealand 35–14  Ireland  Canada
 South Africa
Challenge Trophy  Samoa 26–17  Scotland  Argentina
 Wales
13th Place  Japan 29–14  England  Spain
 Kenya

Paris

Event Winners Score Finalists Semifinalists
Cup  Fiji 35–24  New Zealand  South Africa (Bronze)
 United States
5th Place  France 40–5  Samoa  Argentina
 Kenya
Challenge Trophy  Canada 28–12  Ireland  Australia
 England
13th Place  Scotland 31–26  Japan  Spain
 Wales

See also

References

  1. ^ "Dates confirmed for 2018/19 Sevens Series". Planet Rugby. 6 July 2018. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
  2. ^ "Olympic qualification pathway for rugby sevens confirmed for Tokyo 2020". World Rugby. 17 September 2018. Archived from the original on 20 November 2018.
  3. ^ "Sevens Olympic pathway confirmed for 2020". England Rugby. 17 September 2018. Archived from the original on 12 October 2018.
  4. ^ "Best in class celebrated at HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series Awards in Paris", World Rugby, 2 June 2019.