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HSBC SVNS

Current season, competition or edition: 2023–24 SVNS
Formerly	IRB Women's Sevens Challenge Cup (2011–2012) World Rugby Women's Sevens Series (2012–2023)
Sport	Rugby sevens
Founded	2012; 12 years ago (2012)
First season	2012–13
No. of teams	12 (2023–24)
Most recent champion(s)	Australia (2023–24)
Most titles	New Zealand (7 titles)
Qualification	Challenger Series
TV partner(s)	List of broadcasters
Level on pyramid	1
Official website	www.svns.com/en

The World Rugby SVNS, known as the HSBC SVNS for sponsorship reasons, 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 the previous season. The competition has been sponsored by banking group HSBC since 2015.

The series, the women's counterpart to the World Rugby Sevens Series, provides elite-level women's competition between rugby nations. As with the men's Sevens World Series, teams compete for the title by accumulating points based on their finishing position in each tournament.

History

The first 2012–13 series consisted of four tournaments on three continents. The first two events were hosted by the United Arab Emirates (specifically Dubai) and the United States, both of which host events in the men's version. The other two events were hosted by China and the Netherlands.

For the second series in 2013–14, five tournaments took place; a sixth had initially been announced, but never materialized. All nations that hosted events in 2012–13 hosted in the second season, with the added event hosted by Brazil.

The series expanded to six events for 2014–15. The Dubai, Brazil, USA, and Netherlands events remained on the schedule. China was not on the 2014–15 schedule. New rounds of the series were launched in Canada (specifically in Greater Victoria) and London.

Initially, the 2015–16 series was announced with only four events, with London and the Netherlands dropping from the schedule, but a fifth event was eventually added, hosted by France. Events in Australia and Japan were added in 2016–17. With the USA hosting the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens, the USA was not on the 2017–18 schedule.

The USA Women's Sevens returned to the schedule for the 2018–19 series, but the event was moved within the season to become the opening event. The same season saw three events move to new locations. First, the USA event moved from Las Vegas to the Denver suburb of Glendale, Colorado. The Australian Women's Sevens, as well as the country's corresponding event in the men's Sevens Series, moved within Sydney from Sydney Football Stadium to Sydney Showground Stadium. This was necessary because the Football Stadium was demolished, with an entirely new stadium to be built on the same site. Finally, the France Women's Sevens, originally set for Paris, was moved to Biarritz, with the date also being moved forward by two weeks. This change was promoted by both World Rugby and the French Rugby Federation (FFR) as "enabl the FFR to maximise the visibility, attendance and impact of hosting the final round of the record-breaking series."

Tournaments

Current events

The World Rugby Women's Sevens Series expanded to eight tournaments in 2019–20. From 2020 to 2022, however, several of these events had to be cancelled due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Event	Stadium	City	Joined
Dubai	The Sevens	Dubai	2012–13
South Africa	Cape Town Stadium	Cape Town	2019–20
Australia	Perth Rectangular Stadium	Perth	2016–17
USA	Dignity Health Sports Park	Los Angeles	2023–24 (rejoined)
Canada	BC Place	Vancouver	2014–15
Hong Kong	Hong Kong Stadium	Hong Kong	2019–20
Singapore	National Stadium	Singapore	2023–24
Spain	Metropolitano Stadium	Madrid	2023–24

1. Refers to the first event hosted by that country, not necessarily at the current site.

Former hosts of current events

Event	Stadium	City	First held	Last held
Australia	Sydney Football Stadium	Sydney	2016–17	2017–18
	Sydney Showground Stadium	Sydney	2018–19
	Sydney Football Stadium	Sydney	2022–23
	Western Sydney Stadium	Sydney	2018–20
Canada	Westhills Stadium	Langford (Victoria)	2014–15	2021–22
Spain	Estadio Ciudad de Málaga	Málaga	2021–22
	Estadio de La Cartuja	Seville	2021–22
USA	BBVA Stadium	Houston	2012–13
	Fifth Third Bank Stadium	Kennesaw (Atlanta)	2013–14	2015–16
	Sam Boyd Stadium	Whitney (Las Vegas)	2016–17
	Infinity Park	Glendale (Denver)	2012–13	2019–20

1. Most recently known for sponsorship reasons as Allianz Stadium; demolished and in process of replacement by a new stadium on the same site.
2. Known for sponsorship reasons as Spotless Stadium when it hosted the series in 2018–19.
3. Known for sponsorship reasons as Bankwest Stadium Stadium when it hosted the series in 2019–20.
4. Known for sponsorship reasons as Starlight Stadium when it last hosted the series in 2021–22.
5. Known as BBVA Compass Stadium when it hosted the series in 2012–13.
6. United States was not included the 2017–18 women's series due to its hosting of the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens instead (although it did host the corresponding men's Sevens Series event in that season).

Previous events

Event	Stadium (Capacity)	City	Joined	Ended
China	Guangzhou University City Stadium	Guangzhou	2012–13	2013–14
São Paulo	Arena Barueri	Barueri (São Paulo)	2013–14	2015–16
London	Twickenham Stoop	London	2014–15
France	Stade Gabriel Montpied	Clermont-Ferrand	2015–16	2016–17
	Parc des Sports Aguiléra	Biarritz	2018–19
	Stade Jean-Bouin	Paris	2017–18
	Stade Ernest-Wallon	Toulouse	2021–22	2022–23
Japan	Mikuni World Stadium Kitakyushu	Kitakyushu	2016–17	2018–19
Netherlands	NRCA Stadium	Amsterdam	2012–13	2014–15
New Zealand	Waikato Stadium	Hamilton	2019–20	2022–23

Sponsorship

Unlike the men's Sevens Series, which has enjoyed title sponsorship by banking giant HSBC in recent years, the Women's Sevens Series did not have a title sponsor until 2015–16. HSBC is now the title sponsor of both the men's and women's series.

Historical results

Results by season

Summary of the top six placegetters for each series:

Series	Season	Rds	Champion	Second	Third	Fourth	Fifth	Sixth
I	2012–13	4		England	Canada	United States	Russia	Australia
II	2013–14	5		Australia	Canada	England	Russia	Spain
III	2014–15	6		Canada	Australia	England	United States	France
IV	2015–16	5		New Zealand	Canada	England	France	United States
V	2016–17	6		Australia	Canada	Fiji	Russia	United States
VI	2017–18	5		New Zealand	France	Canada	United States	Russia
VII	2018–19	6		United States	Canada	Australia	France	England
VIII	2019–20	5		Australia	Canada	France	United States	Russia
The 2020–21 season was cancelled due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
IX	2021–22	6		France	Fiji	Ireland	New Zealand	United States
X	2022–23	7		Australia	United States	France	Ireland	Fiji
XI	2023–24	8	Australia	France	New Zealand	Canada	United States	Ireland

Season placings by team

Tally of top six placings in the series for each team, updated after the 2022–23 season:

Team	Champ­ion	Runner-up	Third	Fourth	Top-3 Apps	Top-6 Apps
New Zealand	7	2	1	–	10	11
Australia	4	4	1	1	9	11
France	–	2	1	2	3	8
Canada	–	1	6	2	7	9
United States	–	1	1	1	2	10
England	–	1	–	3	1	5
Fiji	–	–	1	1	1	3
Ireland	–	–	–	1	–	3
Russia	–	–	–	–	–	5
Spain	–	–	–	–	–	1

SVNS League Results

Summary of the top six placegetters for the regular season (since 2024):

Series	Season	Rds	Champion	Second	Third	Fourth	Fifth	Sixth
XI	2023–24	7		Australia	France	United States	Canada	Fiji

Notes

1. The last three rounds of 2019–20, scheduled for Langford, Paris, and Hong Kong, were cancelled due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. Fiji 7s withdrew from the first two tournaments of the 2021–22 series following positive COVID-19 tests in their squad.
3. New Zealand 7s did not attend the first four tournaments of the 2021–22 series due to travel-related restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Format

Rugby sevens is a version of rugby union, invented in Scotland in the 19th century, with seven players a side on a normal-sized field.

Games are much shorter, generally lasting only seven minutes per half, and tend to be very fast-paced, open affairs. The game is both quicker and higher-scoring than 15-a-side rugby and the rules are simpler, which explains part of its appeal, and also gives players the space for superb feats of individual skill. Sevens is traditionally played in a two-day tournament format.

The women's series features 12 teams in each tournament: the remaining participants are invited on the basis of regional tournament rankings.

Each tournament uses a format similar to that of the men's series, adjusted for the lower number of teams, with pool play followed by three separate knockout tournaments.

Core teams

Prior to the inaugural season, a group of "core teams" that are guaranteed places in all series events was announced. This concept is taken directly from the men's series. Unlike the men's series, which features 15 core teams as of the 2012–13 season, the women's series began with only six.

For the 2013–14 series, the number of core teams was increased to eight, all reached the quarter final from the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens:

Brazil was invited to participate in all events for the 2013–14 series. This was part of an IRB initiative to help jump-start women's rugby development in the country, which is set to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.

For the 2014–15 series, the number of core teams increased to 11, and qualification was extensively revamped, changing to a system more similar to that currently used in the men's World Series. The top seven teams in the 2013–14 series retained core team status. Four additional core teams were determined in a 12-team qualifying tournament held in Hong Kong on 12–13 September 2014. World Rugby did not initially announce full details of the qualification system for future series, but eventually determined that the top nine teams from the 2014–15 series would retain their status for 2015–16, with a world qualifier following in September 2015.

A combined Great Britain 7s team replaced England 7s as a core team for the 2022–23 series.

Core teams – World Rugby Women's Sevens Series

Series Team	I 12–13	II 13–14	III 14–15	IV 15–16	V 16–17	VI 17–18	VII 18–19	VIII 19–20	IX 21–22	X 22–23	XI 23–24
Australia	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
Brazil					•			•	•	•	•
Canada	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
China			•				•
England	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
Fiji			•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
France			•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
Great Britain										•	•
Ireland		•		•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
Japan				•		•				•	•
Netherlands	•
New Zealand	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
Russia		•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
South Africa			•								•
Spain		•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
United States	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
Total	6	8	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	12

Current Core Teams

#	Team	Core since	Best Series Finish (Last)
1	New Zealand	2012–13	1st (2023–24)
2	Australia	2012–13	1st (2021–22)
3	France	2014–15	2nd (2021–22)
4	United States	2012–13	2nd (2018–19)
5	Canada	2012–13	2nd (2014–15)
6	Fiji	2014–15	3rd (2021–22)
7	Ireland	2015–16	4th (2021–22)
8	Great Britain	2022–23	7th (2022–23)
9	Japan	2022–23	8th (2022–23)
10	Brazil	2019–20	10th (2023–24)
11	Spain	2013–14	6th (2013–14)
12	China	2024–25	11th (2018–19)

Key: *indicates that the team was invited

Former core teams

Team	Last season as core	Best Series finish (Last)
England	2021–22	4th (2015–16)
Russia	2021–22	5th (2016–17)
South Africa	2023–24	11th (2023–24)
Netherlands	2012–13	7th (2012–13)

Promotion and relegation

In 2019, World Rugby announced a plan to create a second-tier competition that would allow the best twelve sevens teams, from their region to compete in a similar style format to the Sevens Series for the potential of gaining promotion to the World Rugby Sevens Series and becoming a core team. This breaks from the usual format of promotion and relegation in the sevens series.

From 2017–18 series to 2018–19 series the promotion/relegation was as follows:

• One team is relegated and one team is promoted each year.
• The core team that finishes bottom of the table at the end of the season series is relegated.
• The team that wins the 12-team qualifying tournament at the Hong Kong Sevens is promoted.

From 2020 onwards the style of promotion/relegation will be as such:

• One team is relegated and one team is promoted each year.
• The core team that finishes bottom of the table at the end of the season series is relegated to the Challenger Series.
• Twelve teams will compete for promotion in the Challenger Series event.

Season	Core teams	Relegated (post-season)	Promoted (for the next season)
2012–13	6	Netherlands	Spain,  Ireland,  Russia
2013–14	8	Ireland	China,  Fiji,  France,  South Africa
2014–15	11	China,  South Africa	Ireland,  Japan
2015–16	11	Japan	Brazil
2016–17	11	Brazil	Japan
2017–18	11	Japan	China
2018–19	11	China	Brazil
2019–20	11	None
2021	11	Series Cancelled
2021–22	11	Russia	Japan
2022–23	11	No Relegation	South Africa
2023–24	12	South Africa	China

Notes

1. There was no relegation from the 2019–20 core teams due to the curtailed season. Therefore, Brazil, who would have been relegated as the lowest placed core team, retained core team status. The Challenger Series, was cancelled so therefore no team was promoted.

Player awards by season

Season	Rounds	Most points	Most tries	Player of the Year
2012–13	4	Portia Woodman (105)	Portia Woodman (21)	Kayla McAlister
2013–14	5	Emilee Cherry (195)	Emilee Cherry (33)	Emilee Cherry
2014–15	6	Portia Woodman (?)	Portia Woodman (52)	Portia Woodman
2015–16	5	Ghislaine Landry (158)	Portia Woodman (24)	Charlotte Caslick
2016–17	6	Ghislaine Landry (269)	Michaela Blyde (40)	Michaela Blyde
2017–18	5	Portia Woodman (215)	Portia Woodman (43)	Michaela Blyde
2018–19	5	Tyla Nathan-Wong (207)	Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (35)	Ruby Tui
2019–20	5	Alev Kelter (171)	Stacey Fluhler (31)	No award
The 2020–21 season was cancelled due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.				Anne-Cécile Ciofani
2021–22	6	Jade Ulutule (226)	Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (36)	Charlotte Caslick
2022–23	7	Maddison Levi (286)	Maddison Levi (37)	Tyla Nathan-Wong
2023–24	-	-	-	-

Points schedule

The overall winner of the series is determined by points gained from the standings across all events in the season. Twelve teams compete at each event.

Gold, silver and bronze medals were introduced for the top three placegetters at each event in 2016–17, alongside a Challenge Trophy for lower ranked teams  the former Plate and Bowl trophies.

Place	Status	Points
	Cup winner and gold medalist	20
	Cup runner-up and silver medalist	18
	3rd-place play-off winner and bronze medalist	16
4	3rd-place play-off loser	14
5	5th-place play-off winner	12
6	5th-place play-off loser	10
7	7th-place play-off winner	8
8	7th-place play-off loser	6
9	9th-place play-off winner	4
10	9th-place play-off loser	3
11	11th-place play-off winner	2
12	11th-place play-off loser	1

Tie-breaking: Should teams finish equal on series points at the end of the season, the tiebreakers are the same as those in the men's series:

1. Overall scoring differential in the season.
2. Total try count in the season.
3. If neither produces a winner, the teams are tied.

See also

• Rugby sevens
• World Rugby Sevens Series (for men)
• Rugby World Cup Sevens
• Rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics

Notes and references

1. "The History of Rugby Sevens". www.world.rugby. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
2. "HSBC partners with World Rugby for record-breaking sevens properties" (Press release). World Rugby. 30 June 2015. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
3. ^ "Schedule announced for 2013/14 Women's Series" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 22 August 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
4. "Host cities announced for women's series" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 31 July 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
5. "Sevens Series 2018 to finish in Paris as women's dates confirmed". World Rugby. 29 September 2017. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
6. "Schedule confirmed for HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2019" (Press release). World Rugby. 7 July 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
7. "Sydney 7s has a new home in 2019" (Press release). Rugby Australia. 25 May 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
8. "Biarritz to host HSBC World Rugby Women's Sevens Series finale" (Press release). World Rugby. 19 December 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
9. "World Rugby cancels Sevens events in Cape Town and Singapore". ESPN. 4 September 2021. Archived from the original on 4 September 2021.
10. "Hong Kong Sevens postponed again to November 2022". The Standard. 16 November 2021. Archived from the original on 16 November 2021.
11. "2020 Sevens series standings". Sevens.Rugby. 2020.
12. ^ "HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series to double-up in Canada and Dubai". World Rugby. 3 September 2021. Archived from the original on 4 September 2021.
13. Naivalurua, Navitalai (21 January 2022). "Fiji Men's and Women's 7s teams pull out of Spain tournaments". Fiji Village.
14. "World Sevens Series: New Zealand withdraw from Spain tournaments". planetrugby.com. Planet Rugby. 14 January 2022.
15. ^ "IRB announces Women's Sevens World Series" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 4 October 2012. Archived from the original on 19 October 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
16. "Women's Sevens Series places up for grabs" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 8 July 2014. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
17. "Team GB secure Olympic qualification as Canada claim Amsterdam Sevens" (Press release). World Rugby. 23 May 2015. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
18. "Great Britain sevens: Nations combine for 2023 World Sevens Series". British Broadcasting Corporation. 20 July 2022. Archived from the original on 20 July 2022.
19. "Japan and Ireland qualify for Women's Sevens Series" (Press release). World Rugby. 20 August 2015. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
20. "New Challenger Series to boost rugby sevens' expansion". World Rugby. 17 December 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
21. "Caslick crowned Women's Sevens Player of the Year by World Rugby". The Daily Telegraph. 4 November 2016.
22. "World Rugby Awards Special Edition: Fans' Choice voting now open!". World Rugby. 15 October 2020. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020.
23. "Women's Sevens Series tournament rules". World Rugby. 2016. Archived from the original on 13 June 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
24. ^ "Women's Sevens Series Tournament Rules". World Rugby. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
25. "IRB Sevens World Series: Rules". International Rugby Board. Archived from the original on 2 October 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
26. "Men's and women's sevens winners to strike gold". World Rugby.org. 3 October 2016.

External links

• Official website

• World Rugby Women's Sevens Series
• World Rugby competitions
• Women's rugby sevens competitions
• Sports competition series
• Recurring sporting events established in 2012