2015–16 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series
| 2015–16 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series | |
|---|---|
| Hosts |  United Arab Emirates Brazil United States Canada France |
| Date | 3 Dec 2015 – 29 May 2016 |
← 2014–15 2016–17 → | |
The 2015–16 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series will be 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. Unlike the previous tournament, the 2015-16 event will not double as an Olympic qualifier. The tour serves as a companion to the 2015–16 World Rugby Sevens Series.
Whereas the 2014-15 women's series comprised six events, there will be only five events in 2015–16 with the overall winner of the series determined by points gained from the standings across the five events. Twelve teams will compete at each event; eleven of these will be "core" teams, with a twelfth team being invited to participate in particular events (similar to previous women's series as well as the men's counterpart).
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.[1] This year, the qualifying event was held at University College Dublin, in Ireland, and resulted in Japan and hosts Ireland qualifying as core teams for the main 2015-16 tournament.[2]
The competition
Eleven "core teams" will participate 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 |  Australia
|
| Brazil | Arena Barueri, São Paulo | 20–21 February 2016 | Australia
|
| 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 Marcel-Michelin, Clermont-Ferrand | 28–29 May 2016 | |
Qualifying tournament
The core team qualifying tournament was held at University College Dublin in Ireland 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.
Points schedule
The season championship will be determined by points earned in each tournament. The scoring system is the same used in the previous year's series.
- Cup Winner - 20
- Cup Runner Up - 18
- 3rd Place - 16
- Cup Semi Finalist - 14
- Plate Winner - 12
- Plate Runner Up - 10
- Winner 7th/8th play-off - 8
- Loser 7th/8th play-off - 6
- Bowl Winner - 4
- Bowl Runner Up - 3
- Winner 11th/12th play-off - 2
- Loser 11th/12th play-off - 1
Table
| Legend |
|---|
| Qualified as a 2016–17 core team |
| Relegated from World Rugby Women's Sevens Series |
| Not a core team |
| 2015–16 Standings | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Nation | UAE |
Brazil |
 USA |
Canada |
France |
Total | |||||
| 1 | Australia |
20 | 20 | – | – | – | 40 | |||||
| 2 | Canada |
10 | 18 | – | – | – | 28 | |||||
| 3 |  New Zealand |
12 | 16 | – | – | – | 28 | |||||
| 4 | France |
14 | 12 | – | – | – | 26 | |||||
| 5 |  England |
16 | 8 | – | – | – | 24 | |||||
| 6 |  Russia |
18 | 4 | – | – | – | 22 | |||||
| 7 |  Fiji |
8 | 10 | – | – | – | 18 | |||||
| 8 | United States |
2 | 14 | – | – | – | 16 | |||||
| 9 | Brazil |
3 | 6 | – | – | – | 9 | |||||
| 10 |  Spain |
6 | 2 | – | – | – | 8 | |||||
| 11 |  Japan |
4 | 3 | – | – | – | 7 | |||||
| 12 |  Ireland |
1 | 1 | – | – | – | 2 | |||||
| 13 |  Colombia |
– | – | – | – | – | – | |||||
Tournaments
Dubai
| Event | Winners | Score | Finalists | Semifinalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cup | Australia
|
31–12 | Russia
|
England (3rd) France
|
| Plate | New Zealand
|
24–19 | Canada
|
Fiji (7th) Spain
|
| Bowl | Japan
|
13–0 | Brazil
|
United States (11th) Ireland
|
Brazil
| Event | Winners | Score | Finalists | Semifinalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cup | Australia
|
29–0 | Canada
|
New Zealand (3rd) United States
|
| Plate | France
|
15–7 | Fiji
|
England (7th) Brazil
|
| Bowl | Russia
|
38–12 | Japan
|
Spain (11th) Ireland
|