The 2015–16 World Rugby Sevens Series, known for sponsorship reasons as the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, was the 17th annual series of rugby union sevens tournaments for national men's rugby sevens teams. The Sevens Series has been run by

World Rugby World Rugby is the 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 competit ...

since 1999–2000. This season, the series expanded from nine to ten events.

Core teams

Fourteen teams from the 2014-15 season retained core status for the 2015–16 season. A fifteenth team,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, claimed core team status for the 2015–16 series at the

2015 Hong Kong Sevens The 2015 Hong Kong Sevens was the 40th edition of the Hong Kong Sevens and the sixth tournament of the 2014–15 Sevens World Series. Format As in the last tournament, there will be a main draw with the fifteen World Series core teams and one in ...

qualifier. The core teams were: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Russia replaced

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, which lost core team status having finished last of the fifteen core teams in the

2014–15 Sevens World Series The 2014–15 Sevens World Series, known for sponsorship reasons as the HSBC Sevens World Series, was the 16th annual series of rugby sevens tournaments for national rugby sevens teams. The Sevens World Series has been run by World Rugby since 19 ...

Tour venues

The official schedule for the 2015–16 World Rugby Sevens Series was as follows:

Changes

There were three new tournaments in the series, with two events being discontinued: * The

Canada Sevens The Canada Sevens is an annual rugby sevens tournament held every March. It is one of the stops on the World Rugby Sevens Series, and is played the weekend after the USA Sevens. Canada secured a four-year deal to host to event from the 2015� ...

was a new stop at

BC Place BC Place is a multi-purpose stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Located at the north side of False Creek, it is owned and operated by the BC Pavilion Corporation (PavCo), a Crown corporation of the province. The venue is currently ...

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, paired with the

USA Sevens The USA Sevens is a rugby sevens tournament held annually during March in the United States. The USA Sevens is the largest annual rugby competition in North America, having drawn over 80,000 fans to events. The USA Sevens was introduced in 2004 ...

. * The Singapore Sevens returned, replacing the

Japan Sevens The Japan Sevens, also known as the Tokyo Sevens, is an annual rugby sevens tournament held at the Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. It was a part of the Sevens World Series from 2000 to 2001 and from 2012 to 2015. History The fir ...

. * The France Sevens returned for the first time since 2006, replacing the

Scotland Sevens The Scotland Sevens was a rugby sevens tournament that was part of the Sevens World Series. In the 2014-15 season it was the penultimate event of the Sevens World Series circuit. It was first held in 2007 but has been removed from the series ...

. Two other existing tournaments had venue changes: * The

Australian Sevens The Australia Sevens is an international rugby sevens tournament that was first played in 1986. Currently hosted as the Sydney Sevens, the event is part of the World Rugby Sevens Series. The tournament was held in Brisbane, in Adelaide, and on ...

moved from Gold Coast to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. * The South Africa Sevens moved from

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

Standings

Final standings after completion of the ten tournaments in the series: Source
World Rugby. Archived
:

Tournaments

Dubai

The opening event of the season saw

Fiji Fiji, 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 of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

starting their defense of the title by taking out the opening event of the season in Dubai. On the opening day of competition, Fiji,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

each recorded three straight wins to finish on top.

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

finished on top in their group but not before losing to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in Pool C. South Africa got knocked out in the quarter-finals by the United States but would still end up taking home the plate after they defeated

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in the final. While for Fiji, they would take the Dubai Sevens after they initially came from behind to win against England and taking the early lead.

South Africa

After Dubai, the teams had a back to back with Cape Town being the next stop in the series.

New Zealand

Australia

United States

Canada

Hong Kong

Singapore

France

England

Team statistics

Players

Scoring leaders

Updated
24 May 2016

Dream Team

Jasa Veremalua Jasa Veremalua (born 29 May 1988) is a Fijian rugby union player who plays for the Tel Aviv Heat. He played for the San Diego Legion of Major League Rugby (MLR). He also plays for the Fiji sevens team. Veremalua made his debut for at the 201 ...

Osea Kolinisau Osea Kolinisau, Order of Fiji, OF (born 17 November 1985) is a Fijian rugby union player who plays for Old Glory DC of Major League Rugby (MLR). He captained the Fiji Sevens side to their first olympic gold medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics. He is c ...

* Kwagga Smith * Seabelo Senatla *

Perry Baker Perry Baker (born June 29, 1986) is an American former rugby union player who played for the United States national rugby sevens team. He is a two-time World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year. At the time of his retirement, with 293 tries Baker r ...

Collins Injera Collins Injera, OGW, OLY (born 18 October 1986) is a former Kenyan rugby player. He holds third place for the number of tries scored on the World Rugby Sevens Series with 279. He is known for his achievements with Kenyan national rugby sevens t ...

* Fa'alemiga Selesele"HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series awards: As it happened!"
World Rugby. Accessed 23 May 2016.

References

External links

Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:2015-16 Sevens World Series World Rugby Sevens Series