2015–16 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series
# 2015–16 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series

The 2015–16 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series was the fourth edition of the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series (formerly the IRB Women's Sevens World Series), an annual series of tournaments organised by World Rugby for women's national teams in rugby sevens. The tour was a companion to the 2015–16 World Rugby Sevens Series for men.

The series was won by Australia who won three tour events on their way to claiming their first World Series title. The previous women's champions New Zealand finished in second place ahead of Canada and England.

## The competition

There were five tournament events in 2015–16. 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). The overall winner of the series was determined by points gained from the standings across the five events.

For the second time, the women's series held a core team qualifying tournament, similar to that held in the men's HSBC Sevens World Series. The qualifying event was held at University College Dublin, in Ireland, and resulted in Japan and hosts Ireland qualifying as core teams for the main 2015-16 tournament.

### Teams

Eleven "core teams" participated in all series events for the 2015–16 series, the same number as the previous season. The top nine finishers in the 2014–15 series were granted core team status for 2014–15:

* Australia
* Canada
* England
* Fiji
* France
* New Zealand
* Russia
* Spain
* United States

Two additional core teams were determined in a qualifying tournament:

* Ireland
* Japan

### Events

2015–16 Itinerary :

| Leg | Venue | Dates | Winner |
| - | - | - | - |
| Dubai | The Sevens, Dubai | 3–4 December 2015 | Australia |
| Brazil | Arena Barueri, São Paulo | 20–21 February 2016 | Australia |
| United States | Fifth Third Bank Stadium, Kennesaw, Georgia (Atlanta) | 8–9 April 2016 | Australia |
| Canada | Westhills Stadium, Langford, British Columbia (Victoria) | 16–17 April 2016 | England |
| France | Stade Gabriel Montpied, Clermont-Ferrand | 28–29 May 2016 | Canada |

### Qualifying tournament

The core team qualifying tournament was held at the UCD Bowl on 22–23 August 2015.

The qualifier began with a single round-robin pool stage, with teams divided into three four-team pools. The top two teams from each pool, plus the top two third-place finishers, advanced to a knockout stage. The two finalists (the semifinal winners) qualified as core teams for 2015–16.

* Japan (qualified)
* Ireland (qualified)
* South Africa
* Netherlands
* Brazil
* Hong Kong
* Wales
* China
* Kenya
* Colombia
* Samoa
* Mexico

## Points schedule

The season championship is determined by points earned in each tournament. The scoring system is the same used in the previous year's series.

* Cup winner (1st place): 20 points
* Cup runner-up (2nd place): 18 points
* Cup third-place play-off winner (3rd place): 16 points
* Cup semi-finalist (4th place): 14 points
* Plate winner (5th place): 12 points
* Plate runner-up (6th place): 10 points
* Plate third-place play-off winner (7th place): 8 points
* Plate semi-finalist (8th place): 6 points
* Bowl winner (9th place): 4 points
* Bowl runner-up (10th place): 3 points
* Bowl third-place play-off winner (11th place): 2 points
* Bowl semi-finalist (12th place): 1 point

In the event of a tournament being abandoned, no series points are allocated.

If two or more teams are level on series points at the end of the season, the following tiebreakers are used to determine placement:

* Overall difference in points scored and allowed during the season.
* Total try count during the season.
* If neither of the above produces a winner, the teams are considered tied.

Source: World Rugby

## Table

Final standings for the 2015–16 series:

Women's Rugby Sevens World Series IV :

| Pos. | Event Team | Dubai | São Paulo | Atlanta | Langford | Clermont | Points total |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | Australia | 20 | 20 | 20 | 16 | 18 | 94 |
| | New Zealand | 12 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 80 |
| | Canada | 10 | 18 | 14 | 12 | 20 | 74 |
| 4 | England | 16 | 8 | 16 | 20 | 14 | 74 |
| 5 | France | 14 | 12 | 8 | 14 | 12 | 60 |
| 6 | United States | 2 | 14 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 46 |
| 7 | Russia | 18 | 4 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 42 |
| 8 | Fiji | 8 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 34 |
| 9 | Spain | 6 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 8 | 28 |
| 10 | Brazil | 3 | 6 | – | 3 | – | 12 |
| 11 | Japan | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 12 |
| 12 | Ireland | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 11 |
| 13 | Kenya | – | – | – | – | 2 | 2 |
| 14 | Colombia | – | – | 1 | – | – | 1 |

Source: World Rugby

    Legend Qualified as a core team for women's rugby sevens World Series V Did not directly qualify for women's rugby sevens World Series V

## Tournaments

### Dubai

| Event | Winners | Score | Finalists | Semifinalists |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Cup | Australia | 31–12 | Russia | England (3rd) France |
| Plate | New Zealand | 24–19 | Canada | Fiji (7th) Spain |
| Bowl | Japan | 13–0 | Brazil | United States (11th) Ireland |

### Brazil

| Event | Winners | Score | Finalists | Semifinalists |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Cup | Australia | 29–0 | Canada | New Zealand (3rd) United States |
| Plate | France | 15–7 | Fiji | England (7th) Brazil |
| Bowl | Russia | 38–12 | Japan | Spain (11th) Ireland |

### United States

| Event | Winners | Score | Finalists | Semifinalists |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Cup | Australia | 24–19 | New Zealand | England (3rd) Canada |
| Plate | United States | 19–7 | Russia | France (7th) Fiji |
| Bowl | Ireland | 26–15 | Japan | Spain (11th) Colombia |

### Canada

| Event | Winners | Score | Finalists | Semifinalists |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Cup | England | 31–14 | New Zealand | Australia (3rd) France |
| Plate | Canada | 21–5 | Spain | United States (7th) Russia |
| Bowl | Fiji | 24–7 | Brazil | Ireland (11th) Japan |

### France

| Event | Winners | Score | Finalists | Semifinalists |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Cup | Canada | 29–19 | Australia | New Zealand (3rd) England |
| Plate | France | 22–19 | United States | Spain (7th) Fiji |
| Bowl | Russia | 24–5 | Ireland | Kenya (11th) Japan |
