2009–10 IRB Sevens World Series
The 2009–10 IRB Sevens World Series was the eleventh of an annual series of rugby union sevens tournaments for full national sides run by the International Rugby Board since 1999–2000. Samoa won the IRB Sevens World Series crown for their first time.
| 2009–10 IRB Sevens World Series | |
|---|---|
| Hosts |  United Arab Emirates South Africa New Zealand United States Hong Kong.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Australia England Scotland |
| Date | 4 December 2009 - 30 May 2010 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Samoa |
| Runners-up | New Zealand |
| Third | Australia |
← 2008-09 2010-11 → | |
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.
The 2009-10 Series was won by Samoa, who won four of the eight tournaments and placed second in two others. Samoa were led by top try-scorer Mikaele Pesamino, who led the Series with 56 tries.
Itinerary
The series' tournaments were identical to those in 2008–09 and spanned the globe, visiting five of the six populated continents.
| Leg | Venue | Date | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dubai | The Sevens | December 4–5, 2009 | New Zealand |
| South Africa | Outeniqua Park, George | December 11–12, 2009 | New Zealand |
| New Zealand | Westpac Stadium, Wellington | February 5–6, 2010 |  Fiji |
| United States | Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas | February 13–14, 2010 | Samoa |
| Australia | Adelaide Oval, Adelaide | March 19–21, 2010 | Samoa |
| Hong Kong | Hong Kong Stadium | March 26–28, 2010 | Samoa |
| London | Twickenham | May 22–23, 2010 | Australia |
| Edinburgh | Murrayfield, Edinburgh | May 29–30, 2010 | Samoa |
Two minor changes were made to the schedule:
Core teams
Before each season, the IRB announces the 12 "core teams" that will receive guaranteed berths in each event in that season's series. The core teams for 2009–10 were:[3]
Argentina- Australia
- England
- Fiji
France
Kenya- New Zealand
- Samoa
- Scotland
- South Africa
- United States
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Wales
The core teams were unchanged from 2008–09; the most recent change came before that season, when the USA replaced its neighbor Canada.[4]
Points schedule
The season championship is determined by points earned in each tournament. Effective with this season, the IRB changed the points allocations for all events as follows:[5]
- 16-team events (all except for Hong Kong)
- Cup winner (1st place): 24 points
- Cup runner-up: 20 points
- Losing Cup semifinalists: 16 points
- Plate winner (5th place): 12 points
- Plate runner-up: 8 points
- Losing Plate semifinalists: 6 points
- Bowl winner (9th place): 4 points
- 24-team event (Hong Kong)
- Cup winner: 30 points
- Cup runner-up: 25 points
- Losing Cup semifinalists: 20 points
- Plate winner (5th place): 16 points
- Plate runner-up: 10 points
- Losing Plate semifinalists: 8 points
- Bowl winner (9th place): 5 points
Tournament structure
In all tournaments except Hong Kong, 16 teams participate. Due to its place as the sport's most prestigious annual event, the Hong Kong tournament has 24 teams. In each 16-team 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.[6]
Four trophies are awarded in each tournament. In descending order of prestige, they are the Cup, whose winner is the overall tournament champion, Plate, Bowl and Shield. The Shield was contested in Hong Kong for the first time in 2010. Each trophy is awarded at the end of a knockout tournament.[7]
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- and fourth-place finishers in each pool, with the losers in the Bowl quarterfinals dropping into the bracket for the Shield.[6]
The Hong Kong Sevens adopted a new structure effective with its 2010 edition. As in previous years, the 24 teams were divided into six pools of four teams each, with the competition points system and tiebreakers identical to those for a 16-team event. Also as in the past, the six pool winners and the two top second-place finishers advanced to the Cup competition.[8] The changes made in 2010 were:[9]
- The Plate competition was contested by the losing quarterfinalists from the Cup, as in all other events in the series.
- The Bowl was contested by the four remaining second-place finishers and the top four third-place finishers. In previous years, these teams competed for the Plate.
- The Shield was contested by the remaining eight entrants. In previous years, these teams competed for the Bowl.
Standings
| 2009–10 Standings[10] | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Country | Dubai | South Africa (George) |
New Zealand (Wellington) |
USA (Las Vegas) |
Australia (Adelaide) |
Hong Kong | England (London) |
Scotland (Edinburgh) |
Overall | |
| 1 | Samoa | 20 | 6 | 20 | 24 | 24 | 30 | 16 | 24 | 164 | |
| 2 | New Zealand | 24 | 24 | 16 | 20 | 12 | 25 | 12 | 16 | 149 | |
| 3 | Australia | 12 | 6 | 12 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 24 | 20 | 122 | |
| 4 | Fiji | 16 | 20 | 24 | 8 | 6 | 20 | 8 | 6 | 108 | |
| 5 | England | 16 | 12 | 16 | 6 | 4 | 20 | 6 | 16 | 96 | |
| 6 | South Africa | 8 | 8 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 20 | 6 | 80 | |
| 7 | Argentina | 6 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 16 | 8 | 62 | |
| 8 | Kenya | 6 | 16 | 6 | 16 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 52 | |
| 9 | Wales | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 34 | |
| 10 | United States | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 20 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 32 | |
| 11 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Canada | DNP | DNP | 6 | 0 | DNP | 5 | 4 | 0 | 15 | |
| 12 | Scotland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 12 | |
| 13 | France | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Player scoring
Most points
| Most points [11] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Player | Country | Points |
| 1 | Ben Gollings | England | 332 |
| 2 | Mikaele Pesamino | Samoa | 282 |
| 3 | Lolo Lui | Samoa | 264 |
| 4 | James Stannard | Australia | 257 |
| 5 | Tomasi Cama | New Zealand | 241 |
| 6 | Cecil Afrika | South Africa | 210 |
| 7 | Kurt Baker | New Zealand | 191 |
| 8 | Lavin Asego | Kenya | 173 |
| 9 | Mzwandile Stick | South Africa | 171 |
| 10 | William Ryder | Fiji | 166 |
Most tries
| Most tries [12] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Player | Country | Tries |
| 1 | Mikaele Pesamino | Samoa | 56 |
| 2= | Kurt Baker | New Zealand | 33 |
| 2= | Humphrey Kayange | Kenya | 33 |
| 4= | Rayno Benjamin | South Africa | 32 |
| 4= | Collins Injera | Kenya | 32 |
| 6 | Brackin Karauria-Henry | Australia | 30 |
| 7 | Alafoti Fa'osiliva | Samoa | 29 |
| 8= | Renaud Delmas | France | 28 |
| 8= | Clinton Sills | Australia | 28 |
| 10 | Sherwin Stowers | New Zealand | 27 |
Tournaments
Dubai
| Event | Winners | Score | Finalists | Semi Finalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cup | New Zealand |
24 – 12 | Samoa |
England Fiji |
| Plate | Australia |
7 – 0 | South Africa |
Argentina Kenya |
| Bowl | Wales |
38 – 7 |  Zimbabwe |
United States France |
| Shield |  Russia |
17 – 14 |  Portugal |
Scotland Arabian Gulf |
South Africa
| Event | Winners | Score | Finalists | Semi Finalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cup | New Zealand |
21 – 12 | Fiji |
Argentina Kenya |
| Plate | England |
21 – 7 | South Africa |
Samoa Australia |
| Bowl | Wales |
14 – 5 | Russia |
United States Portugal |
| Shield | Scotland |
28 – 19 | France |
Zimbabwe Tunisia |
New Zealand
| Event | Winners | Score | Finalists | Semi Finalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cup | Fiji |
19 – 14 | Samoa |
England New Zealand |
| Plate | Australia |
26 – 22 | South Africa |
Canada Kenya |
| Bowl | Wales |
7 – 5 | France |
Argentina Niue |
| Shield | United States |
17 – 14 |  Tonga |
 Papua New Guinea Scotland |
United States
| Event | Winners | Score | Finalists | Semi Finalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cup | Samoa |
33 – 12 | New Zealand |
Australia Kenya |
| Plate | South Africa |
12 – 7 | Fiji |
England Wales |
| Bowl | United States |
28 – 17 | France |
Argentina Chile |
| Shield | Scotland |
17 – 7 |  Japan |
Canada Guyana |
Australia
| Event | Winners | Score | Finalists | Semi Finalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cup | Samoa |
38 – 10 | United States |
Argentina Australia |
| Plate | New Zealand |
21 – 14 | South Africa |
Fiji Wales |
| Bowl | England |
33 – 12 | Kenya |
France Scotland |
| Shield | Japan |
22 – 19 | Tonga |
Niue Papua New Guinea |
Hong Kong
| Event | Winners | Score | Finalists | Semi Finalists | Quarter Finalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cup | Samoa |
24 – 21 | New Zealand |
England Fiji |
|
| Plate | Australia |
12 – 5 | South Africa |
Kenya United States |
|
| Bowl | Canada |
35 – 19 | Wales |
Portugal Scotland |
Argentina France Japan Tonga |
| Shield | Hong Kong |
19 – 17 | Russia |
 Italy Zimbabwe |
 China Chinese Taipei South Korea Thailand |
References
- "2009/10 IRB Sevens World Series schedule set" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 2009-07-08. Archived from the original on 2009-07-11. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
- "USA Sevens Signs Letter Of Intent to Bring Tournament to New Venue in 2010" (Press release). USA Sevens, LLC. 2009-07-13. Archived from the original on 2009-07-16. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
- "Pools and matches set for South Africa Sevens" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 2009-10-12. Archived from the original on 20 October 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-12.
- "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.
- "Overhaul for Sevens World Series point system" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 2009-11-05. Archived from the original on 2009-11-09. Retrieved 2009-11-06.
- "Rules: 16-Team Tournament". International Rugby Board. 2009. Archived from the original on 9 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
- "Rules". International Rugby Board. Archived from the original on 2008-04-05. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
- "Rules: 24-Team Tournament". International Rugby Board. 2009–2010. Archived from the original on 25 January 2010. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
- "All 24 teams announced for Hong Kong Sevens" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 28 January 2010. Archived from the original on 5 February 2010. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
- "Overall Standings". International Rugby Board. Archived from the original on 2008-12-02. Retrieved 2010-03-28.
- "IRB Sevens World Series 2009/10 Statistics: Season Player Points". International Rugby Board. Archived from the original on 11 February 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-28.
- "IRB Sevens World Series 2009/10 Statistics: Season Player Tries". International Rugby Board. Archived from the original on 2008-04-09. Retrieved 2010-03-28.