2008–09 IRB Sevens World Series
| 2008–09 IRB Sevens | |
|---|---|
| Series X | |
| Hosts | |
| Date | 28 November 2008 – 31 May 2009 |
| Nations | 32 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | File:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa |
| Runners-up | File:Flag of Fiji.svg Fiji |
| Third | File:Flag of England.svg England |
| Series details | |
| Top try scorer | Kenya Collins Injera |
| Top point scorer | England Ben Gollings |
← 2007–08 2009–10 → | |
The 2008–09 IRB Sevens World Series was the tenth of an annual IRB Sevens World Series of rugby union sevens tournaments for full national sides run by the International Rugby Board since 1999–2000. South Africa clinched the 2008–09 World Series, its first Series title. The defending series champions New Zealand finished fourth. Sevens is traditionally played in a two-day tournament format. However, the most famous event, the Hong Kong Sevens, is played over three days, largely because it involves 24 teams instead of the normal 16. Starting in 2008–09, the Australia leg (which involves the normal 16 teams) was spread out over a three-day period.
Tournaments
The series' tournaments are identical to 2007–2008 and span the globe:
| Leg | Venue | Date | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dubai | The Sevens[2] | November 28–29, 2008 | File:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa |
| South Africa | Outeniqua Park, George | December 5–6, 2008 | File:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa |
| New Zealand | Westpac Stadium, Wellington | February 6–7, 2009 | File:Flag of England.svg England |
| United States | Petco Park, San Diego | February 14–15, 2009 | File:Flag of Argentina.svg Argentina |
| Hong Kong | Hong Kong Stadium | March 27–29, 2009 | File:Flag of Fiji.svg Fiji |
| Australia | Adelaide Oval, Adelaide | April 3–5, 2009 | File:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa |
| London | Twickenham | May 23–24, 2009 | File:Flag of England.svg England |
| Scotland | Murrayfield, Edinburgh | May 30–31, 2009 | File:Flag of Fiji.svg Fiji |
The 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens was not a part of the 2008-09 series. Unlike the 2005 edition held in Hong Kong, the 2009 edition did not replace one of the 2008-09 series events. The World Cup was held in Dubai from March 5–7, 2009 and won by Wales.
Core teams
Prior to the season, the IRB announced the 12 "core teams" that would receive guaranteed berths in each event in the 2008–09 series:[3]
- File:Flag of Argentina.svg Argentina
- File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia
- File:Flag of England.svg England
- File:Flag of France.svg France
- File:Flag of Fiji.svg Fiji
- File:Flag of Kenya.svg Kenya
- File:Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand
- File:Flag of Samoa.svg Samoa
- File:Flag of Scotland.svg Scotland
- File:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa
- File:Flag of the United States.svg United States
- File:Flag of Wales (1959–present).svg Wales
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The one new core team was the USA, which replaced its neighbor Canada.[3]
Points schedule
The season championship is determined by points earned in each tournament. For most events, points are awarded on the following schedule:[4]
- Cup winner (1st place): 20 points
- Cup runner-up (2nd place): 16 points
- Losing Cup semifinalists (3rd & 4th place): 12 points
- Plate winner (5th place): 8 points
- Plate runner-up (6th place): 6 points
- Losing Plate semifinalists (7th & 8th place): 4 points
- Bowl winner (9th place): 2 points
Points are awarded on a different schedule for the Hong Kong Sevens:[4]
- Cup winner (1st place): 30 points
- Cup runner-up (2nd place): 24 points
- Losing Cup semifinalists (3rd & 4th place): 18 points
- Losing Cup quarterfinalists (5th, 6th, 7th & 8th place): 8 points
- Plate winner (9th place): 4 points
- Plate runner-up (10th place): 3 points
- Losing Plate semifinalists (11th & 12th place): 2 points
- Bowl winner (17th place): 1 point
Tournament structure
In all tournaments except Hong Kong, 16 teams participate. Due to its place as the sports most prestigious annual event, the Hong Kong tournament has 24 teams. 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. The first tiebreaker is the head-to-head result between the tied teams, followed by difference in points scored during the tournament.[5] 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.[4] In a 16 team tournament, 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.[5] 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.[6]
Final standings
The points awarded to teams at each event, as well as the overall season totals, are shown in the table below. Points for the event winners are indicated in bold. A zero (0) is recorded in the event column where a team competed in a tournament but did not gain any points. A dash (–) is recorded in the event column if a team did not compete at a tournament.
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Notes:
Light blue line on the left indicates a core team eligible to participate in all events of the series.
Player statistics
Most points
| Individual points [8] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Player | Country | Points |
| 1 | Ben Gollings | File:Flag of England.svg England | 260 |
| 2 | Collins Injera | File:Flag of Kenya.svg Kenya | 210 |
| 3 | Richard Kingi | File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia | 205 |
| 4 | Renfred Dazel | File:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa | 191 |
| 5 | Lolo Lui | File:Flag of Samoa.svg Samoa | 187 |
| 6 | Tomasi Cama | File:Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand | 174 |
| 7 | Pedro Leal | File:Flag of Portugal.svg Portugal | 168 |
| 8 | Lavin Asego | File:Flag of Kenya.svg Kenya | 166 |
| 9 | Paul Albaladejo | File:Flag of France.svg France | 165 |
| =10 | Ollie Phillips | File:Flag of England.svg England | 161 |
| =10 | Mzwandile Stick | File:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa | 161 |
Most tries
| Individual tries [9] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Player | Country | Tries |
| 1 | Collins Injera | File:Flag of Kenya.svg Kenya | 42 |
| 2= | Rayno Benjamin | File:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa | 28 |
| 2= | Santiago Gomez Cora | File:Flag of Argentina.svg Argentina | 28 |
| 4 | Luke Morahan | File:Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia | 27 |
| 5 | Vereniki Goneva | File:Flag of Fiji.svg Fiji | 24 |
| 6 | Ollie Phillips | File:Flag of England.svg England | 23 |
| 7= | Alafoti Fa'osiliva | File:Flag of Samoa.svg Samoa | 22 |
| 7= | Renfred Dazel | File:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa | 22 |
| 7= | Robert Ebersohn | File:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa | 22 |
| 7= | Pio Tuwai | File:Flag of Fiji.svg Fiji | 22 |
| 7= | Vuyo Zangqa | File:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa | 22 |
Tournaments
Dubai
South Africa
New Zealand
United States
Hong Kong
Australia
London
Scotland
References
- ↑ "IRB Sevens World Series 2008-09 (Referee) Selections" (PDF). International Rugby Board. 2008-09-01. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-19. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
- ↑ "Emirates unveils Dubai venue 'The Sevens'". International Rugby Board. 2008-07-02. Archived from the original on 2008-07-31. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "USA Rugby receives major Sevens boost" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 2008-09-22. Archived from the original on 2009-06-12. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Rules". International Rugby Board. Archived from the original on 5 April 2008. Retrieved 4 April 2008.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Rules: 16-Team Tournament". International Rugby Board. 2007. Archived from the original on 21 March 2008. Retrieved 4 April 2008.
- ↑ "Rules: 24-Team Tournament". International Rugby Board. 2007. Archived from the original on 21 March 2008. Retrieved 4 April 2008.
- ↑ "Overall Standings". International Rugby Board. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
- ↑ "Season Player Points". International Rugby Board. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
- ↑ "Season Player Tries". International Rugby Board. Archived from the original on 2008-04-09. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
External links
- Official tournament site[usurped]
- "2008-09 Season Player Points and Tries". irb.com. Archived from the original on 10 February 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2013.