2021–22 World Rugby Sevens Series
23rd annual international series of tournaments in men's rugby sevens
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The 2021–22 World Rugby Sevens Series was the 23rd annual series of rugby sevens tournaments for national men's rugby sevens teams. The Sevens Series has been run by World Rugby since 1999.
| 2021–22 World Rugby Sevens | |
|---|---|
| Series XXIII | |
| Hosts | |
| Date | 26 November 2021 – 28 August 2022 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Australia |
| Runners-up |  South Africa |
| Third |  Fiji |
| Series details | |
| Top try scorer |  Terry Kennedy (50) |
| Top point scorer | Dietrich Roache (343) |
← 2021 2022–23 → | |
The series was won by Australia 7s, claiming their first World Series title. Second-placed South Africa opened the competition by winning the first four tournaments, with a 36-match winning streak that lasted until the 2022 Singapore Sevens where they were beaten by the United States in pool play,[1] but they did not make the semifinals in any of the remaining events.
There was no relegation required at the end of the season as the number of core teams was reduced when England, Scotland and Wales were combined to play as Great Britain for the 2022–23 series.[2]
Core teams
The core teams remained unchanged from the previous series due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic which curtailed the last two seasons.[3][4] The sixteen core teams qualified to participate in all 2021–22 tournaments were:
- Notes
- Japan did not compete in the 2021 series but had core team status for it after winning the Challenger Series in 2020 [5] and kept that status for 2021–22.
Tour venues
The schedule for the series was:[7][8]
| Leg | Stadium | City | Dates | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dubai (2 events) | The Sevens | Dubai | 26–27 November 2021 | South Africa |
| 3–4 December 2021 | South Africa | |||
| Spain (2 events) | Estadio Ciudad de Málaga | Málaga | 21–23 January 2022 | South Africa |
| Estadio de La Cartuja | Seville | 28–30 January 2022 | South Africa | |
| Singapore | National Stadium | Singapore | 9–10 April 2022 | Fiji |
| Canada | BC Place | Vancouver | 16–17 April 2022[a] |  Argentina |
| France | Stade Ernest-Wallon[10] | Toulouse | 20–22 May 2022 | Fiji |
| England | Twickenham Stadium | London | 28–29 May 2022 | Australia |
| United States | Dignity Health Sports Park | Los Angeles | 27–28 August 2022[b] |  New Zealand |
- Notes
- The Canada Sevens event was moved from 26–27 February to 16–17 April due to COVID-19 logistical challenges.[9]
- The USA Sevens event was moved from 5–6 March to 27–28 August due to ongoing COVID-19 logistical challenges.[9]
Standings
Due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, World Rugby revised the method used for the series standings in the interest of fairness to teams not able to participate in all rounds of the 2021–22 season.[11] This system excluded the two lowest-scored rounds from each team in the final standings. So, with nine tournaments in the series, only the best seven tournament results for each team contributed to the ranking points.[11]
The final standings after completion of the nine 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.
Official standings for the 2021 series were:
| Pos. | Event Team |
 Dubai I |
Dubai II |
 Málaga |
Seville |
 Vancouver |
 Toulouse |
 London |
 Los Angeles |
Points total |
Ranking points[a] |
Points difference[b] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia |
13† | 19 | 15 | 19 | 17 | 17 | 10† | 22 | 17 | 149 | 126 | +502 |
| 2 | South Africa |
22 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 10 | 13 | 5† | 13 | 3† | 132 | 124 | +541 |
| 3 | Fiji[c] |
15 | 8 | —1† | —† | 22 | 19 | 22 | 17 | 19 | 123 | 122 | +482 |
| 4 | Argentina |
17 | 17 | 19 | 17 | 13† | 22 | 13 | 8† | 13 | 139 | 118 | +375 |
| 5 | Ireland |
11 | 10† | 10 | 15 | 15 | 8† | 19 | 12 | 10 | 110 | 92 | +87 |
| 6 | United States |
19 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 12 | 3† | 10 | 7† | 10 | 97 | 87 | –1 |
| 7 | France |
8† | 15 | 13 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 17 | 5† | 8 | 94 | 81 | +338 |
| 8 | New Zealand[d] |
—† | —† | — | — | 19 | 12 | 8 | 19 | 22 | 80 | 80 | +373 |
| 9 |  Samoa[c] |
—† | —† | — | —1 | 10 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 71 | 71 | +125 |
| 10 | England[e] |
—4† | —5 | 17 | 12 | 3† | 10 | 12 | 10 | 5 | 78 | 71 | –115 |
| 11 | Spain |
7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 2† | 5 | 10 | 1† | 54 | 51 | –44 |
| 12 |  Kenya |
10 | 12 | 1† | 8 | 5 | 1† | 1 | 1 | 12 | 51 | 49 | –181 |
| 13 |  Scotland[e] |
—4† | —5 | 5 | 10 | 1† | 5 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 49 | 44 | –139 |
| 14 | Canada |
6 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 1† | 7 | 1† | 3 | 1† | 36 | 34 | –289 |
| 15 |  Wales[e] |
—4 | —5 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 2† | 1† | 5 | 37 | 34 | –322 |
| 16 |  Japan |
5 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 2† | 1† | 3 | 2 | 2 | 29 | 26 | –636 |
| 17 |  Great Britain[e] |
12 | 13 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 25 | 25 | –11 |
| 18 |  Germany |
— | — | 5 | 5 | — | — | — | — | — | 10 | 10 | +19 |
| 19 |  Jamaica |
— | — | 2 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | 3 | 3 | –285 |
Source: World Rugby
Legend Event Medalists Gold Event Champions Silver Event Runner-ups Bronze Event Third place finishers Qualification for the 2021–22 World Rugby Sevens Series No colour Core team Yellow Invited team
- Notes
- The ranking points contains only the total of points for the seven best tournaments (for each team, respectively)
- The points difference is the margin of points scored for and against (from all matches in only the seven best tournaments for each team, respectively)
- Fiji and Samoa did not play in the two tournaments in Spain following positive COVID-19 tests in their squads.[12][13] As Fiji was not replaced in the schedule for Málaga [14] and Samoa not replaced for Seville,[15] their opponents advanced by walkover in those tournaments. As such, Fiji finished equal-last in Málaga and received one point in the season standings.[16] Similarly, Samoa finished equal-last in Seville and received one point in the season standings.[16]
- New Zealand missed the first four tournaments due to travel logistics and travel-related restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic.
- England, Scotland and Wales were represented by Great Britain in the first two events held in Dubai. For the remaining events, they competed as separate national unions.[8] Each team received one-third of the points earned by Great Britain in the first two rounds: four points each for Dubai I, five points each for Dubai II.[16]
Placings summary
Tallies of top-four placings in tournaments during the 2021–22 series, by team:
| Team |  Gold |
 Silver |
 Bronze |
Fourth | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Africa |
4 | — | — | — | 4 |
| Fiji |
2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Australia |
1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| New Zealand |
1 | 2 | — | — | 3 |
| Argentina |
1 | 1 | 3 | — | 5 |
| Ireland |
— | 1 | — | 2 | 3 |
| United States |
— | 1 | — | — | 1 |
| France |
— | — | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| England |
— | — | 1 | — | 1 |
| Samoa |
— | — | — | 4 | 4 |
Player statistics
Dream Team
| Nick Malouf Luciano González Zain Davids Marcos Moneta Waisea Nacuqu Terry Kennedy Corey Toole |
Reference:[17]
Scoring
|
|
Updated: 29 August 2022
Performance
|
Key: T = Tackles (1 pt), B = Line breaks (3 pts), O = Offloads (2 pts), C = Carries (1 pt) |
Updated: 29 August 2022
Tournaments
Dubai I
| Event | Winner | Score | Finalist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cup | South Africa |
42–7 | United States |
| Bronze | Argentina |
19–12 | Fiji |
| 5th Place | Australia |
35–21 | Great Britain |
| 7th Place | Ireland |
29–7 | Kenya |
| 9th Place | France |
28–26 | Spain |
| 11th Place | Canada |
22–14 | Japan |
Dubai II
| Event | Winner | Score | Finalist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cup | South Africa |
10–7 | Australia |
| Bronze | Argentina |
38–21 | France |
| 5th Place | Great Britain |
10–5 | Kenya |
| 7th Place | United States |
26–19 | Ireland |
| 9th Place | Fiji |
31–7 | Spain |
| 11th Place | Japan |
21–12 | Canada |