IRB Sevens World Series

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.

Teams compete for the Sevens World Series title by accumulating points based on their finishing position in each tournaments. The tournaments span the globe. In 2005-06, the most famous Sevens event, the Hong Kong Sevens, returned to the series after a one-year hiatus, in the 2004-05 season, for the IRB Rugby World Cup Sevens, which was held in Hong Kong in March 2005 and won by Fiji.

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 (Dubai Exiles Rugby Ground): November 30-December 1, 2007
 * South Africa, aka George (Outeniqua Park, George): December 7-8, 2007
 * New Zealand (Westpac Stadium, Wellington): February 1-2, 2008
 * USA (PETCO Park, San Diego, California): February 9-10, 2008
 * Hong Kong (Hong Kong Stadium): March 28-30, 2008
 * Adelaide, aka Australia (Adelaide Oval, Adelaide): April 5-6, 2008
 * London (Twickenham): May 24-5, 2008
 * Scotland, aka Edinburgh (Murrayfield, Edinburgh): May 31-June 1, 2008

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:


 * 1) Head-to-head result between the tied teams.
 * 2) Difference in points scored and allowed during pool play.
 * 3) Difference in tries scored and allowed during pool play.
 * 4) Points scored during pool play.
 * 5) 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-place finishers in each pool, while the Shield is contested by the last-place teams from each pool.

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:
 * 1) Overall difference in points scored and allowed during the season.
 * 2) Total try count during the season.
 * 3) If neither of the above produces a winner, the teams are considered tied.