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2007–08 IRB Sevens World Series

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2007–08 IRB Sevens
Series IX
Hosts
Date30 November 2007 – 1 June 2008
Nations32
Final positions
Champions New Zealand
Runners-up South Africa
Third Samoa

The 2007–08 IRB Sevens World Series was the ninth of an annual IRB Sevens World Series of rugby sevens tournaments for full national sides run by the International Rugby Board since 1999–2000.

The defending series champions, New Zealand, dominated this season's competition, winning the first five events, setting new records for consecutive tournament wins and consecutive match wins,[1] and clinching the 2007–08 series with one tournament remaining after winning the Plate Final of the London leg.[2] They ended with six wins out of the eight events.

Sevens is traditionally played in a two-day tournament format; however, the most famous event, the Hong Kong Sevens, is played over three days.

Tournaments

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The series' tournaments, which were identical to those in 2006–2007, span the globe:

2007-08 Itinerary[3]
Leg Venue Date Winner
Dubai Dubai Exiles Rugby Ground Nov 30–Dec 1, 2007  New Zealand
South Africa Outeniqua Park, George December 7–8 2007  New Zealand
New Zealand Westpac Stadium, Wellington February 1–2 2008  New Zealand
United States Petco Park, San Diego February 9–10 2008  New Zealand
Hong Kong Hong Kong Stadium March 28–30 2008  New Zealand
Australia Adelaide Oval, Adelaide April 5–6 2008  South Africa
London Twickenham May 24–25 2008  Samoa
Scotland Murrayfield, Edinburgh May 31–June 1, 2008  New Zealand

Tournament structure

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In all tournaments except Hong Kong, 16 teams participate. Because of its place as the sports most prestigious annual event, the Hong Kong tournament as 24 teams. 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. The first tiebreaker is the head-to-head result between the tied teams, followed by difference in points scored during the tournament.[4]

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.[5]

In a 16 team tournament, 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-place finishers in each pool, while the Shield is contested by the last-place teams from each pool.[4] 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.[6]

Points schedule

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The season championship is determined by points earned in each tournament. For most events, points are awarded on the following schedule:[5]

  • Cup winner (1st place): 20 points
  • Cup runner-up (2nd place): 16 points
  • Losing Cup semifinalists (3rd & 4th place): 12 points
  • Plate winner (5th place): 8 points
  • Plate runner-up (6th place): 6 points
  • Losing Plate semifinalists (7th & 8th place): 4 points
  • Bowl winner (9th place): 2 points

Points are awarded on a different schedule for the Hong Kong Sevens:[5]

  • Cup winner (1st place): 30 points
  • Cup runner-up (2nd place): 24 points
  • Losing Cup semifinalists (3rd & 4th place): 18 points
  • Losing Cup quarterfinalists (5th, 6th, 7th & 8th place): 8 points
  • Plate winner (9th place): 4 points
  • Plate runner-up (10th place): 3 points
  • Losing Plate semifinalists (11th & 12th place): 2 points
  • Bowl winner (17th place): 1 point


Final standings

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The points awarded to teams at each event, as well as the overall season totals, are shown in the table below. Points for the event winners are indicated in bold. A zero (0) is recorded in the event column where a team competed in a tournament but did not gain any points. A dash (–) is recorded in the event column if a team did not compete at a tournament.

2007–08 IRB Sevens – Series IX[7]
 
Pos.
Event 
Team

Dubai

George

Well­ing­ton

San Diego

Hong Kong

Adel­aide

Lon­don

Edin­burgh
Points
total
   
1  New Zealand 20 20 20 20 30 16 8 20 154
2  South Africa 12 12 8 16 24 20 6 8 106
3  Samoa 6 4 16 12 18 12 20 12 100
4  Fiji 16 16 4 8 18 12 16 4 94
5  England 12 0 2 4 8 0 12 16 54
6  Argentina 8 12 0 6 3 2 12 0 43
7  Kenya 4 8 0 12 8 6 0 0 38
8  Australia 2 0 12 0 8 4 2 2 30
9  Wales 0 2 6 2 8 0 0 12 30
10  Scotland 4 4 4 4 0 0 4 6 26
11  Tonga 12 2 8 22
12  France 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 4 8
13  United States 0 6 0 0 0 0 6
14  Portugal 0 4 0 4
 Cook Islands 0 4 4
16  Canada 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2
17  Russia 1 0 0 1
N/A  Moldova 0 0 0
 Spain 0 0 0
 Japan 0 0 0
 Zimbabwe 0 0 0 0
 Tunisia 0 0 0 0
 Hong Kong 0 0
 China 0 0
 Chinese Taipei 0 0
 South Korea 0 0
 Sri Lanka 0 0
 West Indies 0 0
 Chile 0 0
 Mexico 0 0
 Papua New Guinea 0 0
 Uganda 0 0
  Arabian Gulf 0 0

Source: world.rugby (archived)

Notes:
  Light blue line on the left indicates a core team eligible to participate in all events of the series.

Player scoring

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Individual points

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Individual points [8]
Updated:2008-04-04
Pos. Player Country Points
1 Tomasi Cama  New Zealand 188
2 Fabian Juries  South Africa 150
3 Neumi Nanuku  Fiji 146
4 Renfred Dazel  South Africa 137
5 Lote Raikabula  New Zealand 136
6 Steven Yates  New Zealand 130
7= Mikaele Pesamino  Samoa 127
7= Emosi Vucago  Fiji 127
9 Philip Mack  Canada 126
10 Ben Gollings  England 124

Individual tries

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Individual tries [9]
Updated:2012-02-01
Pos. Player Country Points
1 Fabian Juries  South Africa 41
2 Alafoti Fa'osiliva  Samoa 35
3 Mikaele Pesamino  Samoa 31
4 Tomasi Cama  New Zealand 29
5= Steven Yates  New Zealand 27
5= Victor Vito  New Zealand 27
5= Santiago Gomez Cora  Argentina 27
8= Chris Wyles  United States 26
8= DJ Forbes  New Zealand 26
10 Emosi Vucago  Fiji 25

Tournaments

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Dubai

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists
Cup  New Zealand 31-21  Fiji  South Africa
 England
Plate  Argentina 15-14  Samoa  Scotland
 Kenya
Bowl  Australia 31 – 0  Canada  France
 Wales
Shield  Zimbabwe 22 – 19  Tunisia  Arabian Gulf
 United States

South Africa

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists
Cup  New Zealand 34 – 7  Fiji  South Africa
 Argentina
Plate  Kenya 15 – 14  United States  Scotland
 Samoa
Bowl  Wales 21 – 19  England  Australia
 France
Shield  Canada 31 – 14  Zimbabwe  Uganda
 Tunisia

New Zealand

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists
Cup  New Zealand 22 – 7  Samoa  Australia
 Tonga
Plate  South Africa 19 – 12  Wales  Scotland
 Fiji
Bowl  England 12 – 7  Argentina  France
 Cook Islands
Shield  United States 22 – 17  Kenya  Canada
 Papua New Guinea

United States

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists
Cup  New Zealand 27 – 12  South Africa  Kenya
 Samoa
Plate  Fiji 26 – 21  Argentina  England
 Scotland
Bowl  Wales 21 – 19  United States  Canada
 France
Shield  Australia 24 – 12  Chile  Mexico
 West Indies

Hong Kong

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists Quarter Finalists
Cup  New Zealand 26 – 12  South Africa  Samoa
 Fiji
 Wales
 Australia
 Kenya
 England
Plate  France 17 – 14  Argentina  Tonga
 Canada
 Scotland
 Portugal
 Tunisia
 United States
Bowl  Russia 19 – 14  Zimbabwe  Hong Kong
 South Korea
 Chinese Taipei
 Japan
 China
 Sri Lanka

Australia

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists
Cup  South Africa 15 – 7  New Zealand  Fiji
 Samoa
Plate  Tonga 14 – 12  Kenya  Australia
 Cook Islands
Bowl  Argentina 26 – 21  United States  Scotland
 France
Shield  Wales 12 – 7  Canada  England
 Japan

London

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists
Cup  Samoa 19 – 14  Fiji  England
 Argentina
Plate  New Zealand 19 – 12  South Africa  Portugal
 Scotland
Bowl  Australia 19 – 12  Wales  Canada
 France
Shield  Spain 10 – 7  Kenya  Russia
 Moldova

Scotland

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Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists
Cup  New Zealand 24 – 14  England  Samoa
 Wales
Plate  South Africa 14 – 5  Scotland  Fiji
 France
Bowl  Australia 24 – 14  Canada  Spain
 Argentina
Shield  Portugal 10 – 5  Russia  Moldova
 Kenya

Notes and references

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  1. ^ "South Africa halt kiwi winning streak" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 2008-04-06. Archived from the original on 2008-04-10. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
  2. ^ "Rugby sevens: NZ lose, but still win world title". nzherald.co.nz. 2008-05-26. Retrieved 2008-05-26.
  3. ^ "IRB Sevens World Series set for another record breaking year". International Rugby Board. 2007-08-01. Archived from the original on 2007-10-24. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  4. ^ a b "Rules: 16-Team Tournament". International Rugby Board. 2007. Archived from the original on 21 March 2008. Retrieved 4 April 2008.
  5. ^ a b c "Rules". International Rugby Board. Archived from the original on 5 April 2008. Retrieved 4 April 2008.
  6. ^ "Rules: 24-Team Tournament". International Rugby Board. 2007. Archived from the original on 21 March 2008. Retrieved 4 April 2008.
  7. ^ "Sevens series standings". Sevens.Rugby. 2008. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019.
  8. ^ "Season Player Points". International Rugby Board. Archived from the original on 9 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
  9. ^ "Season Player Tries". International Rugby Board. Archived from the original on 2008-04-09. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
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