This weekend, the world of rugby sevens returns after a successful showing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series brings a few of those Olympic teams to Vancouver, in a fast-paced, two-day, tournament.
In what’s normally an entire league of countries playing in tournaments spanning eight months, this weekend features four. Included are three Olympic sides and a regional up and comer. The four countries will take part in a “fast 4” style tournament.
Tournament Details
Traveling to Vancouver, British Columbia are Great Britain, United States, Mexico and tournament hosts Canada. France, New Zealand and the Fiji Islands aren’t taking part, due to travel restrictions.
On Saturday, September 18, each team will play three games: one against each of the other three nations. Saturday’s results determine seeding for Sunday’s tournament finale.
Then Sunday, the top seed faces the fourth-place side, and second against third. The tournament winner is determined off the winner of the two Sunday semi-finals.
Overall each team plays five matches. Whoever doesn’t win their first match on Sunday goes into a third-place contest.
The Teams
Great Britain, United States and Canada come into the HSBC World Rugby Sevens fresh off the Olympics. Of the sides, Great Britain ended the tournament with the highest seed, losing the bronze medal match against Fiji 12-21. The United States earned sixth place, losing to Australia in the sixth-place game 7-17. Canada secured 9th, after not advancing out of the Olympic tournament group stage.
Of the three Olympic qualifying sides, nine players from Tokyo will appear at the weekend tournament. For Great Britain, six travel to Vancouver. Kayla Canett, Nia Tolver and Nana Fa’avesi feature for the United States. Mexico didn’t qualify for the Tokyo games, but their team isn’t new to global sevens tournaments.
In a regular year, the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series features promotion and relegation. That means teams earn points for wins, losses and tournament victories. At the end of the season, teams with the fewest points are relegated to the series below World Rugby, the Challenge Series. Mexico is part of that series.
The tournament hasn’t been safe from the COVID-19 global pandemic. So far, in the 2021 series, four host nations cancelled events: France, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Africa. With those cancellations, the 2021 series crowns a winner next weekend.
The winner of this weekend’s tournament, and next weekend’s in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada wins the 2021 series. However, points and results won’t carry over into the 2022 series.
About Rugby Sevens
For folks new to the game, rugby sevens matches are perfect for the low of attention span. Two teams of seven athletes play in two seven-minute halves. The idea of the game is to move the ball past the goal line. With only seven players on the field, there’s more room to maneuver and show off speed and agility.
Watch Beyond Women’s Sports for more from this weekend’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens tournament. Follow Thomas Costello on Twitter @1ThomasCostello.
