The 2016–17 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series was the fifth edition of the

World Rugby Women's Sevens Series The World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, is a series of international rugby sevens tournaments for women's national teams run by World Rugby. The inaugural series was held in 2012–13 as the successor to the IRB Women's Sevens Challenge Cup held ...

(formerly the IRB Women's Sevens World Series), an annual series of tournaments organised by

World Rugby World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

for women's national teams in rugby sevens.

The competition

There were six tournament events in 2016–17. Twelve teams competed at each event; eleven being "core" teams, with a twelfth team invited to participate in particular events (similar to previous women's series as well as the men's counterpart). At each event teams compete for gold, silver and bronze medals with the third place match now renamed as the Bronze match while lower ranked teams will contest a new Challenge Trophy competition. The overall winner of the series was determined by points gained from the standings across all events in the season.

Teams

Eleven "core teams" qualified to participate in all series events for the 2016–17 series, the same number as the previous season. The top nine finishers in the previous series were granted core team status: * * * * * * * * * Two additional core teams qualified for the 2016–17 series: * – ninth place (highest finisher not already qualified) at the

2016 Olympic Games ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

* – third place (highest finisher not already qualified) at the 2016 Olympic Qualification Tournament The twelfth team at each tournament in the 2016–17 series was invited at the discretion of

Events

Standings

Final standings for the 2016–17 series: Source
World Rugby
(archived) :

Tournaments

Dubai

In the first event of the series,

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 ...

took revenge for their Olympic final loss by defeating Australia in the Cup final. The three medalists from the Olympic Games were unbeaten in the pool stage of the competition. In the quarter finals stage,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

put behind their failure to qualify for the Olympics earlier in the year by eliminating Rio bronze medalists

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The final was a repeat of the Olympic final with Australia battling throughout the final but tries to Portia Woodman and Rebekah Cordero-Tufuga gave New Zealand the gold medal. The 5th place final was won by Fiji, while

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

won the first Challenge Trophy which replaced the Bowl competition.

Sydney

Australia was included on the women's world circuit for the first time at the 2017 Sydney Women's Sevens. On the opening day of competition,

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 ...

was the only core team not to make the Cup quarterfinals with only a win against

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 ...

from their three pool matches. The upset of the tournament came from the United States as they defeated New Zealand in the semifinal stage.

won the Cup final over their North American neighbours, however, by 21–17. Fiji won the 5th place final for the second time in a row and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

won the Challenge Trophy.

Las Vegas

After a month break, the tour headed to the United States for the first

USA Women's Sevens On October 4, 2012, the International Rugby Board, now known as World Rugby, announced the launch of a circuit now known as the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, the women's counterpart to the World Rugby Sevens Series for men. The inaugural 2012� ...

tournament to be held in Las Vegas. On the opening day of competition,

and

each recorded a three from three in the pool stage. Also during the day Ghislaine Landry converting Moleschi's try got her level with Portia Woodman as the all-time leading point scorer in the series with 665. New Zealand took the Cup on the second day, defeating Australia 28-5 and didn't look troubled throughout the final match. In the bronze medal match, Canada maintained their edge over the

hosts A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it. Host may also refer to: Places *Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County People *Jim Host (born 1937), American businessman *Michel Host ( ...

winning by 31–7. in the minor play-offs, Fiji won the 5th place final again while

took the Challenge Trophy.

Kitakyushu

The series headed off to Japan for the first ever Japan Women's Sevens. The opening day would see the top three at the time in

, Australia and

winning all three of their matches in the group stage. The second day would see the top three qualify through to the cup semi-finals with Fiji being the fourth team as they made it through to the Cup Semi-Finals for the first time since 2014. But New Zealand would take the Cup title for the third tournament of the season as they defeated Canada in the final in a cup final meeting for the first time since Atlanta 2014.

would finish in fifth place while

took out the Challenge after defeating Spain.

Langford

Clermont-Ferrand

Placings summary

Tallies of top four tournament placings during the 2016–17 series, by team (updated to Canada):

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:World Rugby

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2016 rugby sevens competitions 2017 rugby sevens competitions 2016 in women's rugby union 2017 in women's rugby union