2015–16 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series

The 2015–16 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series was the fourth edition of the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series (formerly the IRB Women's Sevens World Series), an annual series of tournaments organised by World Rugby for women's national teams in rugby sevens. The tour was a companion to the 2015–16 World Rugby Sevens Series for men.

The series was won by who won three tour events on their way to claiming their first World Series title. The previous women's champions finished in second place ahead of and .

The competition There were five tournament events in 2015–16. Twelve teams competed at each event; eleven being "core" teams, with a twelfth team invited to participate in particular events (similar to previous women's series as well as the men's counterpart). The overall winner of the series was determined by points gained from the standings across the five events.

For the second time, the women's series held a core team qualifying tournament, similar to that held in the men's HSBC Sevens World Series. The qualifying event was held at University College Dublin, in Ireland, and resulted in Japan and the hosts Ireland qualifying as core teams for the main 2015-16 tournament.

Teams Eleven "core teams" participated in all series events for the 2015–16 series, the same number as the previous season. The top nine finishers in the 2014–15 series were granted core team status for 2014–15:

Two additional core teams were determined in a qualifying tournament:

Events 2015–16 Itinerary Leg Venue Dates Winner Dubai The Sevens, Dubai 3–4 December 2015 Brazil Arena Barueri, São Paulo 20–21 February 2016 United States Fifth Third Bank Stadium, Kennesaw, Georgia (Atlanta) 8–9 April 2016 Canada Westhills Stadium, Langford, British Columbia (Victoria) 16–17 April 2016 France Stade Gabriel Montpied, Clermont-Ferrand 28–29 May 2016

Qualifying tournament The core team qualifying tournament was held at the UCD Bowl on 22–23 August 2015.

The qualifier began with a single round-robin pool stage, with teams divided into three four-team pools. The top two teams from each pool, plus the top two third-place finishers, advanced to a knockout stage. The two finalists (the semifinal winners) qualified as core teams for 2015–16.

(qualified) (qualified)

Points schedule The season championship is determined by points earned in each tournament. The scoring system is the same used in the previous year's series.

Cup winner (1st place): 20 points Cup runner-up (2nd place): 18 points Cup third-place play-off winner (3rd place): 16 points Cup semi-finalist (4th place): 14 points Plate winner (5th place): 12 points Plate runner-up (6th place): 10 points Plate third-place play-off winner (7th place): 8 points Plate semi-finalist (8th place): 6 points Bowl winner (9th place): 4 points Bowl runner-up (10th place): 3 points Bowl third-place play-off winner (11th place): 2 points Bowl semi-finalist (12th place): 1 point

In the event of a tournament being abandoned, no series points are allocated.

If two or more teams are level on series points at the end of the season, the following tiebreakers are used to determine placement: Overall difference in points scored and allowed during the season. Total try count during the season. If neither of the above produces a winner, the teams are considered tied.

Source: World Rugby

Standings Final standings for the 2015–16 series: + 2015–16 World Rugby Women's Sevens – Series IV Pos. Dubai São Paulo Atlanta Langford Claremont Pointstotal Pointsdifference 20 20 20 16 18 94484 12 16 18 18 16 80428 10 18 14 12 20 742694 16 8 16 20 14 742605 14 12 8 14 12 601356 2 14 12 8 10 46–137 18 4 10 6 4 42–488 8 10 6 4 6 34–1259 6 2 2 10 8 28–26410 3 6 – 3 – 12–24711 4 3 3 1 1 12–39212 1 1 4 2 3 11–25713 – – – – 2 2–9314 – – 1 – – 1–137 Source: World Rugby

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:92%;" |- !colspan=2| Legend |- |bgcolor=#FFD700|Gold |Event Champions |- |bgcolor=#C0C0C0|Silver |Event Runner-ups |- |bgcolor=#CD7F32|Bronze |Event Third place finishers

|bgcolor=ccffcc|Green |Qualified as a core team for women's rugby sevens 2016–17 |- |No colour |Did not directly qualify for women's rugby sevens 2016–17

Tournaments

Dubai

EventWinnersScoreFinalistsSemifinalistsCup31–12 (3rd)Plate24–19 (7th)Bowl13–0 (11th)

Brazil

EventWinnersScoreFinalistsSemifinalistsCup29–0 (3rd)Plate15–7 (7th)Bowl38–12 (11th)

United States

EventWinnersScoreFinalistsSemifinalistsCup24–19 (3rd)Plate19–7 (7th)Bowl26–15 (11th)

Canada

EventWinnersScoreFinalistsSemifinalistsCup31–14 (3rd)Plate21–5 (7th)Bowl24–7 (11th)

France

EventWinnersScoreFinalistsSemifinalistsCup29–19 (3rd)Plate22–19 (7th)Bowl24–5 (11th)

References