2005-06 World Sevens Series
Encyclopedia
The 2005-06 World Sevens Series
IRB Sevens World Series
The IRB Sevens World Series, known officially as the HSBC Sevens World Series as of the 2010-11 season, through sponsorship from banking group HSBC, and also sometimes called the World Sevens Series, is a series of international rugby union sevens tournaments organised for the first time in the...

was the seventh in an annual series of rugby union sevens tournaments run by the International Rugby Board
International Rugby Board
The International Rugby Board is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. It was founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board by the unions of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. England refused to join until 1890. The International Rugby Football Board changed its name to the...

 since 1999-2000. The participating teams in each World Sevens Series are full national sides.

The series was won by Fiji
Fiji national rugby union team (sevens)
The Fiji Sevens side is one of the most popular and successful Sevens teams in the world and has won the Hong Kong Sevens a record nine times since its inception in 1976. Fiji has also won the Sevens World Cup twice, winning that event in 1997 and 2005...

 in the last event of the competition. In the final event Fiji needed to finish as Plate winners or higher to ensure that they would win the series. In the final event Fiji won the Cup competition making them the 2005-06 Series Champions.

Sevens is a stripped-down version of rugby union, with seven players on each side rather than fifteen. Games are much shorter, seven or ten minutes each half, and tend to be very fast-paced, open affairs. Sevens is traditionally played in a two-day tournament format; however, the most famous event, the Hong Kong Sevens
Hong Kong Sevens
The Hong Kong Sevens is considered the premier tournament on the IRB Sevens World Series in rugby sevens—a variant of rugby union....

, is played over three days.

The most famous Sevens event, the Hong Kong Sevens
Hong Kong Sevens
The Hong Kong Sevens is considered the premier tournament on the IRB Sevens World Series in rugby sevens—a variant of rugby union....

, returned to the series after a one-year hiatus in 2004-05 for the IRB Rugby World Cup Sevens
Rugby World Cup Sevens
The Rugby World Cup Sevens is the premier international Rugby sevens competition. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Rugby Board , and is contested by the men's national sevens teams every four years. The inaugural tournament was held in 1993 in Scotland, the...

, which was held in Hong Kong in March 2005 and won by Fiji
Fiji national rugby union team (sevens)
The Fiji Sevens side is one of the most popular and successful Sevens teams in the world and has won the Hong Kong Sevens a record nine times since its inception in 1976. Fiji has also won the Sevens World Cup twice, winning that event in 1997 and 2005...

.

The tournaments spanned the globe, with the following events included in the 2005-06 tour:
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
! colspan=4 style="border-right:0px;"; | 2005-06 Itinerary
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
! width=8%|Leg
! width=10%|Venue
! width=8%|Date
! width=5%|Winner
|-
>
Dubai Dubai Exiles Rugby Ground
Dubai Exiles Rugby Ground
Dubai Exiles Rugby Ground is a multi-use stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is currently used mostly for rugby union matches, and was the home stadium of the Dubai Sevens, the first event in the annual IRB Sevens World Series, through the 2007 edition. The Dubai Sevens moved to a new...

 
December 1–2, 2005 >-
South Africa Outeniqua Park
Outeniqua Park
Outeniqua Park is a multi-purpose stadium in George, South Africa. It is currently used mostly for rugby union matches and was the home stadium of the South African leg of the IRB Sevens World Series from 2001 through 2010, after which it moved to Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.The...

, George
George, Western Cape
George is a city with 203,253 inhabitants in South Africa's Western Cape province. The city is a popular holiday and conference centre and the administrative and commercial hub of the Garden Route.- Location :...

 
December 9–10, 2005 >-
New Zealand Westpac Stadium
Westpac Stadium
Westpac Stadium, is a major sporting venue in Wellington, New Zealand. Due to its shape and silver coloured external walls, it is colloquially known as The Cake-Tin to the locals and other New Zealanders...

, Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

 
February 3–4, 2006 >-
United States PETCO Park
PETCO Park
Petco Park is an open-air ballpark in downtown San Diego, California, USA. It opened in 2004, replacing Qualcomm Stadium as the home park of Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres. Before then, the Padres shared Qualcomm Stadium with the NFL's San Diego Chargers...

, San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...

 
February 11–12, 2006 >-
Hong Kong Hong Kong Stadium
Hong Kong Stadium
Hong Kong Stadium is the main sports venue of Hong Kong. Redeveloped from the old Government Stadium it reincarnated as Hong Kong Stadium in 1994...

 
March 31-April 2, 2006 >-
Singapore National Stadium, Singapore
National Stadium, Singapore
The Singapore National Stadium was located in Kallang. Opened in July 1973, the National Stadium was officially closed on 30 June 2007 and has demolished to make way for the Singapore Sports Hub and New Singapore National Stadium which is expected to open in 2014.The stadium has played host to...

 
April 8–9, 2006 >-
Paris Stade Jean-Bouin
Stade Jean-Bouin
Stade Jean-Bouin is a multi-purpose stadium in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. The facility, across the street from the much larger Parc des Princes, is currently used mostly for rugby union matches and is the home stadium of Stade Français. Through 2006, it hosted the annual Paris Sevens...

 
May 27–28, 2007 >-
London Twickenham
Twickenham Stadium
Twickenham Stadium is a stadium located in Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is the largest rugby union stadium in the United Kingdom and has recently been enlarged to seat 82,000...

 
June 3–4, 2006

The season

In a normal event, 16 teams are entered; in Hong Kong, 24 teams enter. In each tournament, the teams are divided into pools of four teams, who play a round-robin within the pool. Points are awarded in each pool on a different schedule from most rugby tournaments—3 for a win, 2 for a draw, 1 for a loss. The first tiebreaker is difference in points scored during the tournament.

Four trophies are awarded in each tournament, except for Hong Kong. In descending order of prestige, they are the Cup, whose winner is the overall tournament champion, Plate, Bowl and Shield. In Hong Kong, the Shield is not awarded. Each trophy is awarded at the end of a knockout tournament.

In a normal event, the top two teams in each pool advance to the Cup competition. The four quarterfinal losers drop into the bracket for the Plate. The Bowl is contested by the third-place finishers in each pool, while the Shield is contested by the last-place teams from each pool.

In Hong Kong, the six pool winners, plus the two highest-finishing second-place teams, advance to the Cup. The Plate participants are the eight highest-ranked teams remaining, while the lowest eight drop to the Bowl.

Points schedule

The season championship is determined by points earned in each tournament. For most events, points are awarded on the following schedule:
  • Cup winner (1st place): 20 points
  • Cup runner-up: 16 points
  • Losing Cup semifinalists: 12 points
  • Plate winner (5th place): 8 points
  • Plate runner-up: 6 points
  • Losing Plate semifinalists: 4 points
  • Bowl winner (9th place): 2 points


Points are awarded on a different schedule for the Hong Kong Sevens:
  • Cup winner: 30 points
  • Cup runner-up: 24 points
  • Losing Cup semifinalists: 18 points
  • Losing Cup quarterfinalists: 8 points
  • Plate winner (9th place): 4 points
  • Plate runner-up: 3 points
  • Bowl winner (17th place): 1 point

Dubai

The opening event of the season saw England
England national rugby union team (sevens)
The English national rugby union sevens team compete in the World Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Commonwealth Games.-Honours:* 1973 International Seven-A-Side Tournament - Winners* Rugby World Cup Sevens Winners 1993* Hong Kong Sevens Winners 2002* Hong Kong Sevens Winners 2003*...

 defend their title, but not without a major fight. They had a very tough semifinal against Samoa
Samoa national rugby union team (sevens)
The Samoa national rugby union team represent Samoa internationally in rugby sevens, a competitive sports tournament titled the IRB Sevens World Series which takes place annually in seven countries; United Arab Emirates, South Africa, New Zealand, United States, Hong Kong, Australia, England and...

, surviving only via an injury-time try by Sevens newcomer Tom Varndell
Tom Varndell
Tom Varndell is an English rugby union footballer who plays on the wing for London Wasps, England and England Sevens. He claims to have been clocked at 10.8 seconds for the 100 metres in his socks on grass...

 and conversion by Simon Amor
Simon Amor
Simon Daniel Edward Amor is an English rugby union footballer who plays at scrum-half or fly-half for London Scottish and is a former captain of the England Sevens squad...

 after Samoa had been controversially reduced to six men in the final seconds. Facing England in the final was Fiji
Fiji national rugby union team (sevens)
The Fiji Sevens side is one of the most popular and successful Sevens teams in the world and has won the Hong Kong Sevens a record nine times since its inception in 1976. Fiji has also won the Sevens World Cup twice, winning that event in 1997 and 2005...

, which had a much tougher road to the final. In what would prove to be a harbinger of the season to come, they upset six-time defending series champion New Zealand
New Zealand national rugby union team (sevens)
The New Zealand national rugby union sevens team is the New Zealand representative team in rugby union sevens and competes in the IRB Sevens World Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Commonwealth Games.-IRB Sevens:...

 in the quarterfinals. Fiji then defeated South Africa
South Africa national rugby union team (sevens)
The South African national rugby union sevens team compete in the World Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Commonwealth Games.-Current squad:2011–12 IRB Sevens World Series 14-man squad :#Cecil Afrika...

 in the semifinals.

The final proved to be a back-and-forth game, with each team seemingly having an answer for the other's scores. However, Varndell, who was named player of the tournament, scored his third try of the final and 10th of the tournament with little more than a minute to go, giving England a lead Fiji could only reduce. http://www.rugbyrugby.com/TOURNAMENTS/World_Sevens_Series/Tournament_News/story_47765.shtml
Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists
Cup 28 - 26
Plate 19 - 7
Bowl 19 - 5
Shield 10 - 7

South Africa

Here, Fiji scored their first win in an IRB Sevens event since their 2002 win in this very event. They defeated both New Zealand and England in the knockout phase to advance to the final. Their opponents were Argentina, who were upset by Wales in pool play, but went on to defeat New Zealand later in pool play. Fiji took a 14–0 lead after five minutes of the final, but Argentina stormed back to take a 19–14 lead. William Ryder scored a try near the end to draw Fiji level, with the winning points provided by a conversion from Sevens legend and player-coach Waisale Serevi
Waisale Serevi
Waisale Tikoisolomoni Serevi is a former Fijian rugby union footballer, and coach. Although he played fifteen-a-side rugby throughout his playing career, Serevi is most notable for his achievements in rugby sevens....

. The man-of-the-tournament award went to Serevi's successor as Fiji Sevens captain, Jone Daunivucu
Jone Daunivucu
Jone Daunivucu is a Fijian rugby union player.-Career:He is a former captain of the Fiji national sevens team. His knowledge of the game and discipline on-field allowed coach Waisale Serevi to give him the captaincy for the 2005-06 IRB World series...

. http://www.rugbyrugby.com/TOURNAMENTS/World_Sevens_Series/Tournament_News/story_47896.shtml
Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists
Cup 21 - 19
Plate 17 - 5
Bowl 34 - 14
Shield 12 - 5

New Zealand

This event made it clear to many observers that for the first time in the history of the World Sevens Series, New Zealand would not be the overall winner. While New Zealand were unable to win on home soil in Wellington, Fiji advanced to their third final this season, defeating New Zealand in the semifinals. The Fijians won a nail-biting extra-time final over South Africa to take pole position in the series. http://www.rugbyrugby.com/TOURNAMENTS/World_Sevens_Series/Tournament_News/story_48783.shtml
Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists
Cup 27 - 22
Plate 14 - 10
Bowl 10 - 5
Shield 19 - 14

USA

England stormed back into contention for the overall series crown here, destroying Fiji in the final. By this time, it became increasingly clear that the race for the title would be between the two Los Angeles finalists. http://www.rugbyrugby.com/TOURNAMENTS/World_Sevens_Series/Tournament_News/story_48974.shtml
Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists
Cup 38 - 5
Plate 21 - 5
Bowl 26 - 21
Shield 26 - 12

Hong Kong

The 30th edition of arguably the biggest event in the Sevens version of the game saw what Planet-Rugby.com called an "absolutely mesmerising" final. The first half belonged to England, who took advantage of a Fiji sin-binning to break open a tight game to take a 19–7 lead at the break. Serevi's men stormed back in the second half to level the score, and eventually took the lead on a Ryder try. However, they turned the ball over as the full-time siren sounded. England took advantage, with Ben Gollings
Ben Gollings
Ben Gollings is a rugby union footballer who plays fly-half for Rugby Lions and formerly for England Sevens.-Career:...

 scoring a try to tie the match and converting to win. http://www.rugbyrugby.com/TOURNAMENTS/World_Sevens_Series/Tournament_News/story_50096.shtml
Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists
Cup 26 - 24



Plate 15 - 5



Bowl 47 - 0




Singapore

This event saw a rematch of the Hong Kong final, with Fiji scoring a comfortable win this time, despite missing two key players—Danivucu to a three-month disciplinary ban for biting Varndell in the Hong Kong final, and Epeli Dranivasa to a broken arm suffered in the same match. New Zealand were officially eliminated from contention for the series crown, crashing out in the Cup quarterfinals to Argentina and losing in the Plate semifinals to Samoa. Fiji placed themselves in pole position to claim the series crown; if they made the finals in Paris and England, they would win the series title no matter what England did. http://www.rugbyrugby.com/TOURNAMENTS/World_Sevens_Series/Tournament_News/story_50278.shtml
Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists
Cup 40 - 21
Plate 26 - 5
Bowl 12 - 0
Shield 43 - 5

Paris

Going into Paris, second-place England knew they had to finish at least two spots ahead of Fiji in one of the remaining two tournaments to win the overall title. England caught a major break when the hosts, France, stunned Fiji 22–21 in the Cup quarterfinals, knocking them into the Plate competition. However, England could not take advantage of the upset, crashing out of the Cup at the same stage to Australia, 29–17. Fiji went on to win the Plate and extend their lead over England for the overall crown.

In the meantime, South Africa went on to win the Paris crown. In the final, they avenged a loss to Samoa in pool play, with Ryno Benjamin and Danwell Dimas scoring two tries apiece.

The results here all but assured Fiji the overall crown. England could only win the 2005-06 series if they won the final event at Twickenham and Fiji lost in or before the Plate semifinals. http://www.rugbyrugby.com/news/story_51463.shtml
Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists
Cup 33 - 12
Plate 31 - 12
Bowl 31 - 7
Shield 40 - 0

London

The first day saw Fiji, South Africa and New Zealand sweep through pool play unbeaten. The most competitive pool was Pool B, featuring the hosts England. The pool was tightly contested, with England neck-and-neck with Australia and surprise package Kenya. In a major shocker, Kenya easily defeated Australia 26–7. Although England would lose the day's final match 24–19 to Australia, they topped the pool on points difference, with Kenya finishing second. http://www.rugbyrugby.com/news/story_51586.shtml

On Day 2, Fiji clinched the overall series crown by defeating Kenya 33–14 in the Cup quarterfinals. They went on to crush South Pacific rivals Samoa 54–14 for the London crown. England held off South Africa for second place, advancing to the Cup semifinals while South Africa could only advance to the Plate final, which they lost to Kenya.

The Bowl competition went especially against form. In the first semifinal, Portugal
Portugal national rugby union team (sevens)
The Portugal national rugby union team represent Portugal in international rugby sevens. The team has played for the first time in 1992, at the Catania Sevens, World Cup 1993 European Qualifier....

 surprised Scotland 24–12. The second saw an even more shocking result, as Russia
Russia national rugby union team (sevens)
The Russia national rugby union sevens team compete in the World Sevens Series, and Rugby World Cup Sevens.-Current Squad:12-man squad for 2010–11 IRB Sevens World Series :#Vladimir Ostroushko#Nikolay Goroshilov#Yury Gostyuzhev...

 used a hat trick from Igor Galinovskiy
Igor Galinovskiy
Igor Galinovskiy , is a Russian rugby union footballer. He plays as a wing.He counts 9 caps for Russia, with 5 tries scored, 25 points in aggregate, from 2006 to 2008....

to stun Australia 21–5. Portugal won the final 45–0. http://www.rugbyrugby.com/news/story_51613.shtml
Event Winners Score Finalists Semi Finalists
Cup 54 - 14
Plate 42 - 7
Bowl 45 - 0
Shield 17 - 12

Final table

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
! colspan=12 style="border-right:0px;"; | Final 2005/06 Standings
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
! width=5%|Pos.
! Country
! width=8%|Dubai
! width=8%|South Africa
(George)
! width=8%|New Zealand
! width=8%|USA
! width=8%|Hong Kong
! width=8%|Singapore
! width=8%|Paris
! width=8%|London
! width=8%|Overall
|-
|| 1 || || 16 || 20 || 20 || 16 || 24 || 20 || 8 || 20 || 144
|-
|| 2 || || 20 || 12 || 8 || 20 || 30 || 16 || 4 || 12 || 122
|-
|| 3 || || 12 || 12 || 16 || 12 || 18 || 12 || 20 || 8 || 110
|-
|| 4 || || 8 || 6 || 12 || 12 || 18 || 4 || 4 || 12 || 76
|-
|| 5 || || 12 || 8 || 4 || 0 || 8 || 8 || 16 || 16 || 72
|-
|| 6 || || 4 || 16 || 6 || 8 || 8 || 12 || 6 || 4 || 64
|-
|| 7 || || 6 || 4 || 12 || 6 || 0 || 6 || 12 || 4 || 50
|-
|| 8 || || 4 || 4 || 4 || 4 || 8 || 4 || 12 || 0 || 40
|-
|| 9 || || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 3 || 2 || 2 || 6 || 13
|-
|| 10 || || 0 || 0 || 2 || 2 || 8 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 12
|-
|| 11 || || 2 || 2 || 0 || 0 || 4 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 8
|-
|| 12 || || 0 || 0 || 0 || 4 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 4
|-
|| 13 || || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 2 || 2
|-
|| 14 || || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1
|}

New Zealand, which had won the first six World Sevens Series, was mathematically eliminated from contention for the 2005-06 crown after the Singapore Sevens. Fiji's title was the first in the seven-year history of the competition to be won by a country other than New Zealand.

External links

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