The 2013–14 IRB Sevens World Series, known for sponsorship reasons as the HSBC Sevens World Series, was the 15th annual series of rugby union sevens tournaments for full national sides. The IRB Sevens World Series has been run by the International Rugby Board since 1999–2000. New Zealand emerged as champions, defeating South Africa.

Itinerary

+ 2013–14 Itinerary Leg Venue Date Winner Australia Skilled Park, Gold Coast 12–13 October 2013 Dubai The Sevens, Dubai 29–30 November 2013 South Africa Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth 7–8 December 2013 United States Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas 24–26 January 2014 New Zealand Westpac Stadium, Wellington 7–8 February 2014 Japan Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Tokyo 22–23 March 2014 Hong Kong Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong 28–30 March 2014 Scotland Scotstoun Stadium, Glasgow 3–4 May 2014 England Twickenham Stadium, London 10–11 May 2014

Core teams For each season, there are 15 "core teams" that receive guaranteed berths in all events for that season's series. These teams were either placed in the top 12 of the standings before the 2013 London Sevens, or qualified during the World Series Core Team Qualifier held as part of the London Sevens. All 15 core teams from the 2012–13 season retained their core team status. The 2013–14 core teams were:

Changes to core team qualifying On 9 October 2013, the IRB announced significant changes to the promotion/relegation process.

First, only one promotion place was available for the 2014–15 series. Also, the World Series Pre-Qualifier, which was a 12-team tournament contested as part of the 2013 Hong Kong Sevens, was folded into the Core Team Qualifier, which involved 12 teams and was entirely contested at the Hong Kong Sevens. The bottom-placed core team at the end of the season will now be automatically relegated, with no opportunity to retain core status.

The remaining three core teams for 2013–14 were determined in a two-stage qualifying process: The first stage was a World Series Qualifier held as part of the Hong Kong Sevens. Two qualifiers from each of the IRB's six regions competed. The 12 teams were drawn into pools, with the top eight teams advancing to a quarterfinal round. The winners of the four quarterfinal matches advanced to the final qualifying stage. The final qualifying stage, the World Series Core Team Qualifier, was held as part of the London Sevens. The qualifying teams were joined by the winner of the HSBC Asian Sevens Series, plus the bottom three core teams following the Scotland Sevens. The qualifying tournament was conducted with a pool stage followed by knockout play, with the two finalists and the winner of the third-place match becoming core teams for the following season.

Standings 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. 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.

+ 2013–14 IRB Sevens – Series XVPos. Gold CoastDubaiPort ElizabethLas VegasWellingtonTokyoHong KongGlasgowLondonPointstotal   1 22 17 19 19 22 15 22 22 22 1802 15 19 22 22 19 19 13 10 13 1523 13 22 13 8 17 22 17 17 15 1444 17 15 8 13 15 17 19 13 17 1345 19 8 7 12 13 13 15 10 19 1166 7 5 2 17 12 10 10 19 8 907 12 10 10 7 8 10 3 12 12 848 10 5 17 15 10 2 5 5 10 799 5 13 15 10 10 3 5 7 7 7510 8 3 12 10 5 5 7 8 10 6811 10 12 5 5 5 8 12 3 5 6512 5 10 3 5 7 7 8 15 1 6113 3 1 5 3 3 12 10 1 3 4114 2 7 10 1 1 1 2 1 1 2615 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 5 5 2016 – – – – – 5 – 2 2 9 17 1 – – – 1 – – – – 218 – 1 – – – – – – – 1 – – – 1 – – – – – 1 – – 1 – – – – – – 1 – – – – – – 1 – – 1

Source: {| class="wikitable" style="font-size:92%;" |- !colspan=2| Legend<span |- style="line-height:18px; font-size:90%;" |colspan=2 align=center |Event Medalists |- |bgcolor=#FFD700|Gold |Event Champions |- |bgcolor=#C0C0C0|Silver |Event Runner-ups |- |bgcolor=#CD7F32|Bronze |Event Third place finishers |- |colspan=2 align=center |Qualification for the 2014–15 World Sevens Series |- |No colour |Core team in 2013–14 and re-qualified as a core team for the 2014–15 World Rugby Sevens Series |- |bgcolor=ffcccc|Pink |Relegated as the lowest placed core team at the end of the 2013–14 Series |- |bgcolor=ffffcc|Yellow |Invited team

Player statistics

Points scored Points scored Pos. PlayerPoints 1 358 2 260 3 258 4 246 5 229 6 204 7 202 8 200 9 190 10 169

Tries scored Tries scored Pos. PlayerTries 1 52 2 33 3 32 4 30 4 30 6 29 6 29 8 28 8 28 10 27 10 27

Tournaments

Gold Coast

EventWinnersScoreFinalistsSemifinalistsCup40–19 (Third)Plate36–0Bowl19–14Shield22–0

Dubai

EventWinnersScoreFinalistsSemifinalistsCup29–17 (Third)Plate21–5Bowl17–12Shield28–17

South Africa

EventWinnersScoreFinalistsSemifinalistsCup17–14 (Third)Plate45–19Bowl28–19Shield19–12

United States

EventWinnersScoreFinalistsSemifinalistsCup14–7 (Third)Plate26–24Bowl35–0Shield31–0

Wellington

EventWinnersScoreFinalistsSemifinalistsCup21–0 (Third)Plate12–10Bowl24–14Shield28–12

Japan

EventWinnersScoreFinalistsSemifinalistsCup33–26 (Third)Plate17–12Bowl28–21Shield 26–0

Hong Kong

EventWinnersScoreFinalistsSemifinalistsCup26–7 (Third)Plate19–14Bowl31–5Shield 17–10

Scotland

EventWinnersScoreFinalistsSemifinalistsCup54–7 (Third)Plate26–5Bowl20–14Shield29–12

London

EventWinnersScoreFinalistsSemifinalistsCup52–33 (Third)Plate38–14Bowl31–19Shield36–12

References

External links