1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying

Of the twenty-four nations involved in 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens, nineteen were invited and five had to go through pre-tournament 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying. Four of the qualification places were won by Namibia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Spain who booked their places by reaching the semi-finals of one qualifying event in Sicily. Latvia won their place by beating Russia in the final of a mini-tournament staged in Moscow to decide who would replace the USSR, which had broken up since its invite to the world cup.

The invited participants were Argentina, Australia, Canada, England, Fiji, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Romania, Scotland, Tonga, South Africa, South Korea, USA, Wales and Western Samoa.

Sicily (1992)

Seventeen nations came to Catania, Sicily, in May 1992 (from 29th to 31st) to battle for four qualifying spots in the finals in 1993. They were divided into three groups, five in one and six in the other two. Taiwan, Namibia, Spain and Hong Kong were the successful qualifiers after three group stages and three knockout rounds.[1] The affair was complicated and confused. The group stages produced a situation where, by the transition from the second to the third groups, the lower ranked teams were better off losing to one another in order to face weaker opposition in stage 3. Also, the two teams with the best records leading into the quarter-finals, Namibia (played 8 won 8) and Zimbabwe (played 9 won 7, drawn 1, lost 1) ended up playing each other. Meanwhile, a Czechoslovakian side that had won just one match made it to the quarterfinals at the expense of Tunisia that had won 5 of 9.[2]

Determination of Pool Winners: All matches in the tournament carry the following points A Win 3 points, A Draw 2 points, A Loss 1 point. The team with the greatest number of points at the end of preliminary rounds would declared the winner. if teams at this stage are level on points then the winner shall be: (a) the winner of the match in which tied teams played. (b) the team that scored the most tries throughout the Round . (c) the team which has conceded the fewest tries throughout the Round. (d) the total points scored by each team in all matches in the Round shall be divided by total points scored against each team and the team with the higher quotient shall be the winner. Teams eliminated on either group stage participated in the Etna Cup mini-tournament alongside an invitational Sicily side.

The original groups were as follows:

Group stage 1

Legend
Advances to Group Stages 2 and 3
Eliminated to Etna Cup round 1

Pool A

Teams Pld W D L PF PA +/− Pts
 Namibia 4 4 0 0 122 6 +116 12
 Sweden 4 3 0 1 54 58 −4 10
 Portugal 4 2 0 2 43 52 −9 8
 Poland 4 1 0 3 19 55 −36 6
Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf Arabian Gulf 4 0 0 4 22 89 −67 4

Pool B

Teams Pld W D L PF PA +/− Pts
 Hong Kong 5 4 1 0 120 44 +76 14
 Zimbabwe 5 4 1 0 110 32 +78 14
 Belgium 5 3 0 2 66 78 −12 11
 Czechoslovakia 5 1 1 3 55 88 −33 8
 Sri Lanka 5 1 0 4 40 103 −63 7
 Morocco 5 0 1 4 40 86 −46 6

Pool C

Teams Pld W D L PF PA +/− Pts
 Taiwan 5 4 1 0 112 34 +78 14
 Spain 5 4 0 1 78 46 +32 13
 Tunisia 5 3 1 1 80 36 +44 12
 Germany 5 2 0 3 56 60 −4 9
 Malaysia 5 0 1 4 38 100 −62 6
 Kenya 5 0 1 4 24 112 −88 6

[2]

Group stage 2

Pool D

Teams Pld W D L PF PA +/− Pts
 Namibia 2 2 0 0 52 14 +38 6
 Hong Kong 2 1 0 1 22 40 −18 4
 Taiwan 2 0 0 2 22 42 −20 2
30 May 1992
Namibia 24−10 Taiwan

30 May 1992
Namibia 28−4 Hong Kong

30 May 1992
Hong Kong 18−12 Taiwan

Pool E

Teams Pld W D L PF PA +/− Pts
 Zimbabwe 2 2 0 0 38 20 +18 6
 Spain 2 1 0 1 40 18 +22 4
 Sweden 2 0 0 2 4 44 −40 2
30 May 1992
Sweden 0−24 Spain

30 May 1992
Sweden 4−20 Zimbabwe

30 May 1992
Zimbabwe 18−16 Spain

Pool F

Teams Pld W D L PF PA +/− Pts
 Tunisia 2 2 0 0 36 20 +16 6
 Portugal 2 1 0 1 28 24 +4 4
 Belgium 2 0 0 2 16 36 −20 2
30 May 1992
Portugal 10−18 Tunisia

30 May 1992
Portugal 18−6 Belgium

30 May 1992
Belgium 10−18 Tunisia

Pool G

Teams Pld W D L PF PA +/− Pts
 Germany 2 2 0 0 42 16 +26 6
 Czechoslovakia 2 0 1 1 28 42 −14 3
 Poland 2 0 1 1 12 24 −12 3
30 May 1992
Poland 0−12 Germany

30 May 1992
Poland 12−12 Czechoslovakia

30 May 1992
Czechoslovakia 16−30 Germany

Group stage 3

No team was eliminated from stage 2, just rearranged on new seedings that went into Pools H, I, L and M. These four pools of three teams each meant that each team had to play a further two matches and this process resulted in eight teams given a new seeding for the quarterfinals, with four teams eliminated, to play in the Etna Cup.

Legend
Advances to Knockout Round (semifinalists eligible for World Cup)
Eliminated to Etna Cup Playoffs

Pool H

Teams Pld W D L PF PA +/− Pts
 Namibia 2 2 0 0 46 4 +42 6
 Portugal 2 1 0 1 16 30 −14 4
 Poland 2 0 0 2 6 34 −28 2
30 May 1992
Namibia 22−0 Poland

30 May 1992
Portugal 12−6 Poland

30 May 1992
Namibia 24−4 Portugal

Pool I

Teams Pld W D L PF PA +/− Pts
 Taiwan 2 2 0 0 49 16 +33 6
 Czechoslovakia 2 0 1 1 20 40 −20 3
 Tunisia 2 0 1 1 16 29 −13 3
30 May 1992
Taiwan 30−10 Czechoslovakia

30 May 1992
Tunisia 10−10 Czechoslovakia

30 May 1992
Taiwan 19−6 Tunisia

Pool L

Teams Pld W D L PF PA +/− Pts
 Hong Kong 2 2 0 0 56 0 +56 6
 Sweden 2 1 0 1 14 42 −28 4
 Germany 2 0 0 2 14 38 −28 2
30 May 1992
Hong Kong 24−0 Germany

30 May 1992
Sweden 14−10 Germany

30 May 1992
Hong Kong 32−0 Sweden

Pool M

Teams Pld W D L PF PA +/− Pts
 Spain 2 2 0 0 40 12 +28 6
 Zimbabwe 2 1 0 1 30 20 +10 4
 Belgium 2 0 0 2 4 42 −38 2
30 May 1992
Zimbabwe 18−4 Belgium

30 May 1992
Spain 22−0 Belgium

30 May 1992
Zimbabwe 12−18 Spain

Knockout round

(31 May 1992)

 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
31 May 1992 - Catania, Sicily
 
 
 Namibia16
 
31 May 1992 - Catania, Sicily
 
 Zimbabwe10
 
 Namibia24
 
31 May 1992 - Catania, Sicily
 
 Taiwan06
 
 Taiwan20
 
31 May 1992 - Catania, Sicily
 
 Sweden12
 
 Namibia26
 
31 May 1992 - Catania, Sicily
 
 Hong Kong10
 
 Hong Kong26
 
31 May 1992 - Catania, Sicily
 
 Czechoslovakia06
 
 Hong Kong14
 
31 May 1992 - Catania, Sicily
 
 Spain12
 
 Spain10
 
 
 Portugal06
 

Etna Cup

Hosts

Stage 1 Eliminated Teams

Stage 2 Eliminated Teams

Round 1 Etna Cup (30 May 1992)

Pool A

Results

Classification

Pool B

Results

Classification

Round 2 Etna Cup (31 May 1992)

Quarter-finals

 Kenya won  Poland lost

 Tunisia won  Morocco lost

 Sicily won  Germany lost

 Malaysia 10 - 10  Belgium (extra time 14–10)

Semi-finals

 Sicily won  Malaysia lost

 Tunisia won  Kenya lost

Final

 Sicily won  Tunisia lost

The Sicilian team were completely fresh and faced opponents who in some cases had played nine draining games. Sicily entered Sunday having played a total of two games. The final was contested by Sicily and Tunisia. Although Tunisia led by 2 points when normal time expired, the Italian referee allowed play to continue until, in the fourteenth minute of the second half, the Sicilians scored.

Former USSR representative

Although the Soviet Union had originally been an invited team, it had subsequently collapsed and the former constituent nations, demanded their own qualifying event. This was held in Moscow where the Latvia team, in their first ever sporting event, overcame Ukraine and Kazakhstan to reach the final where they beat Russia to claim the last place in Edinburgh.[1]

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
 
 
 
 Latvia20
 
 
 
 Georgia5
 
 Latvia12
 
 
 
 Russia10
 
 Russia15
 
 
 Lithuania0
 
Third place
 
 
 
 
 
 Georgia19
 
 
 Lithuania0

References

  1. ^ a b "Sevens Explosion - World Cup History Part I: Dallaglio and co sweep to inaugural win". Archived from the original on 2012-02-24. Retrieved 2009-06-17.
  2. ^ a b "The 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens Qualifier Sevens Tournament from Hell by Doppo Domani, June 1992". Archived from the original on 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2009-06-17.