Host nations United Arab Emirates
South Africa
New Zealand
Australia
United States
Canada
Hong Kong
Singapore
France
England Date 2 Dec 2016 – 21 May 2017 | ||
The 2016–17 World Rugby Sevens Series, known for sponsorship reasons as the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, is the 18th annual series of rugby union sevens tournaments for national rugby sevens teams. The Sevens Series has been run by World Rugby since 1999–2000.
Contents
The 2016–17 Series also serves as a qualifying tournament for the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens. Nine of the core teams have already qualified for that tournament. The top four finishers in the 2016–17 Series from among the remaining six core teams — Scotland, Argentina, Samoa, Canada, Russia and Japan — will qualify for the 2018 RWC Sevens.
Tour venues
The official schedule for the 2016–17 World Rugby Sevens Series is as follows:
There are no major changes to the schedule.
Standings
Progress standings table:
Source: World Rugby
Tournaments
In this series, World Rugby abolished the minor trophies of Plate, Bowl and Shield that were previously awarded in the finals play-offs at each tournament. While the winner's Cup was retained as the major trophy, the awarding of gold, silver and bronze medals to players from the three respective top-placed teams was introduced for this series. A Challenge Trophy was established for teams competing in the lower bracket of the finals play-offs at each tournament. Additionally, the playing time for Cup final matches was reduced from 20 minutes to 14 minutes, in line with all other tournament matches.