World Series core sides increased
The IRB has increased the number of core sides involved in next season's Women's Sevens World Series by two to eight.
Published by Alison Donnelly, May 28th, 2013
3 minute read
For next season, the top eight ranked teams from the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow (June 28-30) will qualify as core teams for the series.
The first ever series ended recently in Amsterdam with New Zealand lifting the first title.
New Zealand finished on 74 points, followed by England on 60 points and a strong performance by Canada in Amsterdam saw them finish the series in third place on 52 points.
The series took place in four destinations, UAE (Dubai), USA (Houston), China (Guangzhou) and Netherlands (Amsterdam), and there could be an increase in legs next season.
The venues and dates for next year will be announced later this year but with just over a week since the inaugural event finished, there has already been strong expressions of interest received from a number of countries in hosting a round of the series.
This year’s series mirrored the men's version, with each 12-team event featuring six core teams (Australia, Canada, England, Netherlands, New Zealand and USA) who played across all four events, and six teams who were invited based on regional Sevens rankings..
"The first ever IRB Women's Sevens World Series was an extraordinary success, and provided these elite athletes with a platform to display and improve their skills," said IRB Head of Competition and Performance Mark Egan.
"The quality of Rugby on display throughout the series was magnificent and culminated in a spectacular cup final between Canada and New Zealand at the Amsterdam tournament on the last weekend."
"The fact that the top eight teams from the IRB Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow will qualify as core teams next season will add a significant competitive edge to the tournament, and provide a huge focus for the players."
"I congratulate New Zealand on winning the first ever IRB Women's Sevens World Series trophy but I expect the competition will be even tougher next season as those teams who benefitted so much from this year's series bring the skill levels and intensity up a notch," said Egan.