The 2001 Cardiff Sevens was an rugby sevens tournament that took place at the

Rodney Parade Rodney Parade is a stadium in the city of Newport, South Wales, owned and operated by the Welsh Rugby Union. It is located on the east bank of the River Usk in Newport city centre. The ground is on Rodney Road, a short walk from the city's cen ...

with the finals being held at the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...

. It took place between 2–3 June 2001 and was the first edition of the Cardiff Sevens and the final round of the

2000–01 World Sevens Series The 2000–01 World Sevens Series was the second edition of the global circuit for men's national rugby sevens teams, organised by the International Rugby Board World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rug ...

. Heading into the tournament,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

held an eight point lead over

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

with a semi-final placing in the cup being enough to give New Zealand the title. After both teams qualified through to the cup knockout stage with them only conceding ten points between the two, they would meet in the cup final with New Zealand taking out not only the Cardiff Sevens but the World Series with a 31–5 win over Australia. In the minor placings,

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

took out the plate final defeating

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

while

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

won the bowl over

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Teams

16 teams participated in the final round of the World Sevens Series:

Format

The teams were drawn into four pools of four teams each. Each team played the other teams in their pool once, with 3 points awarded for a win, 2 points for a draw, and 1 point for a loss (no points awarded for a forfeit). The pool stage was played on the first day of the tournament. The top two teams from each pool advanced to the Cup/Plate brackets. The bottom two teams from each pool went on to the Bowl bracket.

Summary

The opening day of the 2001 Cardiff Sevens saw the leading two nations (Australia and New Zealand) each finished top of their pool group while only conceding five points in their pool stage. The Northern hemisphere teams though had a day that they rather forget with only Wales qualifying through to the quarter-finals of the major European teams with

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

not recording a single win while England only recorded 19-all draw with

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

before losing to the qualifiers of Pool C in Fiji in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

finished ahead of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in Pool D with the Samoans getting a 28–10 win. In the cup quarter-finals, New Zealand would take the World Sevens title defeating Wales 29-0 to claim their second World Sevens title. They would also go on to win the Cup final over Australia with tries from

Chris Masoe Chris Masoe (born 15 May 1979 in Savaii, Western Samoa) is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer, who last played for Racing Metro 92 in the Top 14 and a current professional boxer. He is the brother of boxer Maselino Masoe. He was born ...

and Damien Karauna securing a 31-5 victory. In the plate-final, Fiji took home the plate defeating host nation Wales who came back from 19-0 down against Georgia in the plate semi-final to win 26-19. England got the remaining two points as they home took the bowl final over Portugal.

Pool stage

The pool stage was played on the first day of the tournament. The 16 teams were separated into four pools of four teams and teams in the same pool played each other once. The top two teams in each pool advanced to the Cup quarterfinals to compete for the 2001 Cardiff Sevens title.

Pool A

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Pool B

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Pool C

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Pool D

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Knockout stage

Bowl

Source:

Plate

Source:

Cup

Source:

Tournament placings

Source
World Rugby
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Series standings

At the completion of Round 9: Source
world.rugby
(archived)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cardiff 2000–01 IRB Sevens World Series 2000–01 in Welsh rugby union June 2001 sports events in the United Kingdom