The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series returns to New Zealand

• The HSBC New Zealand Sevens returns to Hamilton on January 21-22 after a three-year hiatus
• The 2023 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series is as competitive as ever with qualification for Paris 2024 at stake and a fight to avoid relegation to the men’s competition.
• All Blacks Sevens and Black Ferns Sevens will be looking to defend their titles at home
• Samoa and Australia lead the men’s and women’s table of the series after three and two legs respectively.
• Saturday kicks off at 09:10 local time (GMT+13), with the final scheduled for Sunday at 19:26.

The world’s best sevens players are back in action in New Zealand. For the first time in 1,091 days, after a three-year hiatus, the 2023 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series returns to Hamilton on January 21-22.

The Black Ferns Sevens and All Blacks Sevens will defend the HSBC New Zealand Sevens titles they won on home soil at the last event in 2020, while Samoa and Australia enter the event as men’s and women’s series leaders respectively.

The 2023 series is shaping up to be highly competitive with qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics awarded to the top four women’s and men’s teams in the 2023 series finals, while hosts France have qualified ahead of world sport’s premier event. .

Eight different teams have reached the Cup semi-finals in the men’s series, winning medals in the first three competitions of the season. Australia, Samoa and South Africa have three different gold medalists, three different silver medalists (Fiji, Ireland and New Zealand) and three different bronze medalists (France, New Zealand and USA). Only New Zealand has won two medals, while Samoa, South Africa and the United States have reached the semi-finals twice.

Men’s Series Standings >>

Five different teams participated in the semi-finals, with the women playing two matches more than the men. Only three of them won medals, with Australia and New Zealand winning gold once each and the United States winning bronze in both events.

Women Series Standings >>

This season, the stakes couldn’t be higher at the low end of the men’s series. After the final in Toulouse, the 15th-ranked team will advance to the 2024 Sevens Challenger Series, while the teams ranked 12-14 will face the winner of the 2023 Sevens Challenger Series for the last 12 of the 2024 series.

The 16 men’s and 12 women’s team captains lined up outside the newly opened K’aute Pasigika Pan Pacific Community Center in Hamilton on Wednesday before meeting fans for autographs and selfies.

In the men’s pool draw for Hamilton, Cape Town champions Samoa have been drawn in Pool A alongside Olympic champions Fiji, France and Kenya.

Hosts New Zealand have been drawn in Group B with Great Britain, winners Hong Kong Australia and hosts Tonga.

New Zealand men’s captain Sam Dixon said, “We are very excited to be playing on home soil again after three years. We have so many good memories here and we look forward to the weekend.

“This is an Olympic qualification year and our goal is to win the World Series and qualify for the Olympics. Obviously, we had a slow start but we recovered well in Dubai and Cape Town and now we are third in the table. So let’s continue that momentum and fly here in Hamilton and put on a good show for our fans.

The bronze medalists in Cape Town, USA, top Group C and face Uruguay, Ireland and Japan on day one.

South Africa, champions in Dubai in December, were joined in Group D by Argentina, Spain and Canada.

Men’s Fitting >>

In the women’s competition, hosts and defending Olympic champions New Zealand face Great Britain, Fiji and guests Papua New Guinea in Pool A.

New Zealand captain Sarah Hirini said: “It’s amazing to be back in Hamilton and as it’s an Olympic qualification year we want to make sure we’re in the top four at the end of the season and qualify for Paris. But I think the most important thing is to play well and do it well.”

“There’s so much momentum in the women’s game, we can’t go anywhere without someone talking about the Rugby World Cup, which is really exciting for us and we want to continue that momentum with the Sevens team.”

Reigning champions Australia will top Group B with France, Canada and Japan ahead of their home match in Sydney on January 27-29 in 2022.

Pool C features a pair of bronze medals so far this season, along with the United States, Ireland, Brazil and Spain.

Women’s Fittings >>

Saturday kicks off at 09:10 local time (GMT+13) and all group stage matches will be played on Saturday. The quarter-finals of the cup will begin at 09:30 on Sunday, with the women’s final at 19:26 and the men’s final at 19:56.

After more than two decades on New Zealand’s sporting calendar, this year will see the addition of a second stadium next to FMG Stadium Waikato, allowing men’s and women’s matches to be played over two full days. The action and excitement of world-class rugby sevens.

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