2018–19 World Rugby Sevens Series
20th annual international series in men's rugby sevens
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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.
| 2018–19 World Rugby Sevens | |
|---|---|
| Series XX | |
| Hosts | |
| Date | 30 Nov 2018 – 2 Jun 2019 |
| Nations | 21 |
| 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) |
← 2017–18 2019–20 → | |
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]
| 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
The final standings after completion of the ten tournaments of the series are shown in the table below.
The points awarded to teams at each tournament, as well as the overall season totals, are shown. Gold indicates the event champions. Silver indicates the event runner-ups. Bronze indicates the event third place finishers. A dash (–) is recorded in the event column if a team did not compete at a tournament.
Official standings for the 2018–19 series were:
| Pos. |
Event Team |
 Dubai |
Cape Town |
Hamilton |
 Sydney |
Las Vegas |
 Vancouver |
 Hong Kong |
 Singapore |
 London |
 Paris |
Points total |
Points difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fiji |
13 | 22 | 22 | 15 | 12 | 17 | 22 | 19 | 22 | 22 | 186 | 795 |
| 2 | United States |
19 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 22 | 15 | 17 | 15 | 17 | 15 | 177 | 447 |
| 3 | New Zealand |
22 | 15 | 17 | 22 | 17 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 19 | 162 | 761 |
| 4 | South Africa |
12 | 17 | 15 | 13 | 10 | 22 | 10 | 22 | 10 | 17 | 148 | 582 |
| 5 | England [GB 1] |
17 | 13 | 8 | 17 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 17 | 2 | 5 | 114 | 384 |
| 6 |  Samoa |
8 | 7 | 12 | 3 | 19 | 10 | 15 | 13 | 8 | 12 | 107 | –1 |
| 7 | Australia |
15 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 19 | 5 | 104 | 281 |
| 8 | France |
7 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 19 | 19 | 8 | 15 | 13 | 99 | –16 |
| 9 |  Argentina |
10 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 15 | 10 | 13 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 94 | 83 |
| 10 |  Scotland |
10 | 10 | 13 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 72 | –113 |
| 11 | Canada |
5 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 8 | 59 | 141 |
| 12 |  Spain |
5 | 12 | 5 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 49 | –512 |
| 13 |  Kenya |
1 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 37 | –508 |
| 14 |  Wales |
3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 31 | –441 |
| 15 |  Japan |
2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 27 | –898 |
| 16 |  Ireland |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 12 | 7 | 19 | –37 |
| 17 |  Chile |
— | — | — | — | 5 | 1 | — | — | — | — | 6 | –141 |
| 18 |  Tonga |
— | — | 3 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 5 | –133 |
| 19 |  Zimbabwe |
1 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 2 | –165 |
| 20 |  Portugal |
— | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | — | 1 | –67 |
| 21 | Hong Kong |
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | 1 | –120 |
Source: World Rugby
Legend Event Medalists Gold Event Champions Silver Event Runner-ups Bronze Event Third place finishers Qualification for the 2019–20 World Rugby Sevens Series 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 season Yellow Not a core team Qualification for the 2020 Olympic Sevens Automatically qualified (host country Japan) Qualified to the 2020 Olympic Sevens as one of the four highest placed eligible teams from the 2018–19 series.[2]
- 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 |  Gold |
 Silver |
 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
| Rank | Player | Tries |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carlin Isles | 52 |
| 2 | Aminiasi Tuimaba | 46 |
| 3 | Dan Norton | 39 |
| Max McFarland | ||
| 5 | Alasio Naduva | 37 |
| 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
Impact award
|
|
Updated: 26 May 2019
Coach of the Series: Mike Friday, U.S. head coach[4]
Tournaments
Dubai
Cape Town
Hamilton
Sydney
Las Vegas
Vancouver
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 |
