2006–07 IRB Sevens World Series
Template:Future sport The 2005-06 IRB Sevens World Series will be the eighth of an annual series of rugby union sevens tournaments run by the International Rugby Board since 1999-2000. The participating teams in each World Sevens Series are full national sides. The defending champions are Fiji.
Sevens is a stripped-down version of rugby union, with seven players on each side rather than fifteen. Games are much shorter, seven or ten minutes each half, and tend to be very fast-paced, open affairs. Sevens is traditionally played in a two-day tournament format; however, the most famous event, the Hong Kong Sevens, is played over three days.
The tournaments span the globe:
- Dubai (Dubai Exiles Rugby Ground): December 1-2, 2006
- South Africa, aka George (Outeniqua Park, George): December 8-9, 2006
- New Zealand (Westpac Stadium, Wellington): February 2-3, 2007
- USA (PETCO Park, San Diego, California): February 10-11, 2007
- Hong Kong (Hong Kong Stadium): March 30-April 1, 2007
- Australia (site TBA, Adelaide): April 7-8, 2007
- London (Twickenham): May 26-27, 2007
- An eighth event will be announced later by the IRB.
The season
In a normal event, 16 teams are entered; in Hong Kong, 24 teams enter. 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 difference in points scored during the tournament.
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.
In a normal event, 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.
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.
Points schedule
The season championship is determined by points earned in each tournament. For most events, points are awarded on the following schedule:
- Cup winner (1st place): 20 points
- Cup runner-up: 16 points
- Losing Cup semifinalists: 12 points
- Plate winner (5th place): 8 points
- Plate runner-up: 6 points
- Losing Plate semifinalists: 4 points
- Bowl winner (9th place): 2 points
Points are awarded on a different schedule for the Hong Kong Sevens:
- Cup winner: 30 points
- Cup runner-up: 24 points
- Losing Cup semifinalists: 18 points
- Losing Cup quarterfinalists: 8 points
- Plate winner (9th place): 4 points
- Plate runner-up: 3 points
- Bowl winner (17th place): 1 point
The events
Dubai
Results
- Cup:
- Losing Cup semifinalists:
- Plate:
- Losing Plate semifinalists:
- Bowl:
South Africa
Results
- Cup:
- Losing Cup semifinalists:
- Plate:
- Losing Plate semifinalists:
- Bowl:
Wellington
Results
- Cup:
- Losing Cup semifinalists:
- Plate:
- Losing Plate semifinalists:
- Bowl:
USA
Results
- Cup:
- Losing Cup semifinalists:
- Plate:
- Losing Plate semifinalists:
- Bowl:
Hong Kong
Results
- Cup
- Losing Cup semifinalists:
- Losing Cup quarterfinalists:
- Plate
- Bowl
Australia
Results
- Cup:
- Losing Cup semifinalists:
- Plate:
- Losing Plate semifinalists:
- Bowl:
London
Results
- Cup:
- Losing Cup semifinalists:
- Plate:
- Losing Plate semifinalists:
- Bowl:
Event TBA
Results
- Cup:
- Losing Cup semifinalists:
- Plate:
- Losing Plate semifinalists:
- Bowl: