IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset has hailed the global success of another record-breaking HSBC Sevens World Series.
Once again the Series as a whole set a new attendance record with just over 547,500 fans supporting the nine events played across five continents, outstripping the previous best of 500,100.
As well as expanding to nine events with the addition of Japan, there were four new venues in total on the 2011/12 Series, all of which proved an instant hit with supporters.
Australia’s move to the Gold Coast was well supported at the start of the season; Port Elizabeth’s Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium provided a cauldron of atmosphere in South Africa; Scotland’s switch from Edinburgh to Glasgow attracted new fans to the game and a return to Tokyo was significant for Asian Rugby as Japan prepares to host Rugby World Cup 2019.
At three of the nine venues spectators were also treated to top women’s action, with the IRB Women’s Sevens Challenge Cup underscoring the global and competitive nature of the Women’s Game, acting as a pre-cursor to a new IRB Women’s Sevens Series, to be announced in due course.
"This has been a magnificent season of achievement for Rugby Sevens both on and off the field," said IRB Chairman, Bernard Lapasset.
"The action has been more competitive than ever before in the HSBC Sevens World Series, with five different Cup winners and no fewer than thirteen teams reaching the Cup quarter finals, including the likes of Spain, Canada, Tonga and Kenya, while our Women’s and Regional events are going from strength to strength."
"In the stands and around the venues the carnival atmosphere of a Sevens tournament continues to provide a unique appeal to Rugby fans all around the world. Together these factors combine to make the sport an incredibly enticing prospect as we move ever closer to Sevens’ Olympic Games debut in 2016."
New Zealand have retained their HSBC Sevens World Series title, ending the season with a third place finish at the Marriott London Sevens to finish on 167 Series points, six ahead of closest rivals Fiji.
The New Zealanders sealed a 10th Series title with a ruthless 36-0 quarter final win against South Africa, but fell to a brilliant Fijian performance in the semi final. However, the New Zealanders recovered to end the season on a high note, beating Argentina in the play-off for bronze.
The Fijians stormed to the London title to cap a season of achievement for them, matching New Zealand’s three Cup titles and underlining just how tight things are at the top of the Sevens game.
A record two-day Sevens crowd of 103,027 attended Twickenham over the weekend, a fitting climax to another thrilling season of international Rugby Sevens.
"It’s pretty special, we worked extremely hard to get this one and I think everyone knows how competitive the Sevens Series is now. We came here with an 11-point lead but still with an opportunity of blowing it," said NZ captain, DJ Forbes.
"The quarter final win (36-0 win against South Africa) was probably our only complete game of rugby this weekend, but there was a lot of passion, a lot behind it to make sure we wrapped up the Series.
"At the end of the day it comes down to consistency and that’s where we were probably a little bit ahead, but taking nothing away from Fiji, they’ve done extremely well to win here.
"I guess for us you could see that we’re used to playing under pressure, regardless of where we’re playing. If you’re wearing a black jersey everyone expects you to do well."
IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset said: "Once again New Zealand have proved that, over the course of an entire season, they are the finest Sevens side in the world and our congratulations go to them.
"And yet even on this, their day of triumph, they were denied in the Cup semi-finals by their closest challengers Fiji, which again underlines just how competitive our global Game of Rugby Sevens has become.
"In the women’s event too we have seen a wonderful tournament from the Netherlands in reaching a first Cup title and congratulations to England on winning their second title of the season.
"Twickenham has provided a wonderful and fitting stage for the finale of another superb season, capped off by another record crowd for a two-day event. We can look forward to a bright future as we gear towards the 2016 Olympic Games."
Australia took the Plate in London, beating England, who finished the season in third place ahead of Samoa in fourth and South Africa in fifth.
A record two-day Sevens crowd of 103,027 attended Twickenham over the weekend, a fitting climax to another thrilling season of international Rugby Sevens.
The Fijians stormed to the London title to cap a season of achievement for them, matching New Zealand’s three Cup titles and underlining just how tight things are at the top of the Sevens game.
The New Zealanders sealed a 10th Series title with a ruthless 36-0 quarter final win against South Africa, but fell to a brilliant Fijian performance in the semi final. However, the New Zealanders recovered to end the season on a high note, beating Argentina in the play-off for bronze.
Sixth placed Australia won the Plate, Wales lifted the Bowl, France were triumphant in the Shield whilst England won their second IRB Women’s Sevens Challenge Cup.
Australia pip hosts England to Plate
England narrowly missed out on the consolation of a Plate trophy when Dan Bibby missed a conversion and a penalty drop goal in the second half of the Plate final, allowing impressive Australia to hang on to a 14-12 victory and collect 13 Series points.
However, Mat Turner’s try in the final did put him one ahead of teammate Dan Norton as the season’s leading try scorer.
England reached the Plate final after a Turner try and Tom Mitchell conversion clinched a late 17-15 victory against South Africa. Australia reached the final after the Tokyo Sevens winners overturned a 12-5 half time deficit to beat Spain 17-12 in the semi.
Wales beat Scotland in Bowl
Twelve points from Alex Walker hands Wales a 27-5 victory against Scotland in the Bowl, as the reigning RWC Sevens champions collect eight points for the Series.
Two second half tries, one after the final buzzer had sounded, from Dan Fish booked Wales’ place in the Bowl final after a 28-26 victory against Portugal. They met Scotland following Graham Shiel’s side recorded a 31-19 victory against Zimbabwe in the second semi final thanks to two tries from Michael Fedo.
Earlier, 11 points from Alex Walker helped Wales beat USA 28-19 in the second Bowl quarter, entering this competition having lost to Spain and Fiji on day one.
Carl Murray scored twice for Portugal in the day’s opening match against RWC Sevens 2013 hosts Russia. The sides last met in the core team qualifying quarter final in Hong Kong, with Portugal narrowly winning 17-10 on their way to claiming one of the three places for next season’s Series, and recorded a 24-17 victory in London.
In the third match Scotland beat crowd favourites Kenya 21-5 before Dubai Sevens runners-up France suffered a 19-17 defeat to Zimbabwe with Jacques Leitao scoring the winning try for the Cheetahs.
Nottingham are putting in the final preparations in a bid to continue their unbeaten run in the British and Irish Cup this Sunday (13 November) as they take on Pontypridd at home.
The Green and Whites have beaten both Doncaster Knights and Rotherham Titans in the Cup this season and are looking to go three for three to further their chances of a home quarter-final.
With an excellent opportunity to progress, Nottingham’s younger players have proven that they have what it takes to go all the way but coming up against last season’s Welsh Premiership champions will not be a walk in the park and Pontypridd are expected to bring a strong squad to Meadow Lane.
Director of Rugby, Glenn Delaney, said: “We’re all looking forward to the match against Pontypridd this weekend. It’s nice to be back at Meadow Lane after the trip to Leeds last weekend.
“We’ve won our two games in the B&I Cup so far, against Doncaster and Rotherham, so hopefully we’ll be able to find a good balance within the team this week to make it another win.”
The Green and Whites are hoping to bounce back this Sunday after a frustrating afternoon against Leeds in last weekend’s league game, which resulted in another narrow defeat, this time going down 22 points to 19.
Glenn added: “The boys played a good game at the weekend and we were disappointed not to win.
“I think it was a pretty even game in terms of what both teams offered, it just came down to managing the right areas of the pitch. We couldn’t convert our chances to clinch the win, but they did and the dropped goal was the deciding factor.
“We will be making quite a few changes to the team line up this weekend. The B & I Cup matches are a good chance to give some of the other players a chance to get out on the pitch. The match will also be an opportunity to allow some of the players who have a slight niggle a bit of time to rest up and enjoy some recovery.”
Sunday’s game will also see former Newcastle Falcon, Brent Wilson make his first appearance on the pitch for Nottingham Rugby.
Nottingham v Pontypridd kicks off at Meadow Lane at 3pm on Sunday. Tickets are available from the ticket office at £18 for adults, £13 for concessions and £4 for under-16s, but the club is offering two for one entry to this weekend’s game with every ticket purchased on the day. Season ticket holders can also bring someone along completely free of charge.
The team’s final group Cup match will be against Currie on 17th December at Malleny Park in Edinburgh. For more information, go to www.nottinghamrugby.co.uk.
Team line-up for Sunday 13 November 15. James Stokes 14. Andy Savage 13. Ayoola Erinle 12. Charlie Hayter 11. Ryan Hough 10. Joe Cobden 9. Finlay Barnham (c)
1. Raphael Olive 2. Ollie Taylor 3. Matt Shields 4. Mitchell Todd 5. Lee Morley 6. Rupert Cooper 7. Brent Wilson 8. Phil Eggleshaw
Bench 16. Joseph Duffey 17. Michael Holford 18. Ben Prescott 19. Alex Shaw 20. Tom Calladine 21. Nathan Jones 22. Joe Munro
Brett Davey has announced a new look team ahead of Wednesday’s British and Irish Cup match against Nottingham.
The Knights have named five Sheffield Tigers players on loan at the club for the Cup competition and handed another two players their full debut for the Castle Park based outfit.
The DOR is hoping his team can impress and is confident they have the ability to put in a fighting performance against a strong Nottingham side:
"The lads are looking forward to the game and I am really excited at the prospect of a Cup run, unfortunately we don’t have the squad depth we would like so we are trying new things.
"The players who come in from the Tigers will hopefully impress and it is a very open window for them – I have placed my confidence in them and hopefully we will play with a strong sense of ambition."
Bedford Blues season comes to an end this weekend and it couldn’t be more exciting as they have the chance to clinch silverware in the final of the British & Irish Cup at Bristol.
The Blues have enjoyed a superb season as they finished second in the regular season, pushed Worcester all the way in the semi-final of the play-offs last weekend and now have the chance to pick up their first trophy since lifting the Powergen Shield in 2005.
Bedford head into Saturday’s game off the back of a truly remarkable game against Worcester Warriors at Sixways last weekend. A last gasp converted try saw the hosts win the game 23-22, but it was the Blues who took the plaudits with their performance.
The Blues have been running on a depleted squad for a number of weeks now and this weekend they will once again be without Ian Vass (ACL), Sacha Harding (broken arm), Ben Lewitt (knee), Joe Clark (hand), Brendan Burke (knee) and Jackson Wray (hand).
Following the final training session on Thursday night, Bedford Blues director of rugby Mike Rayer said: “I am so proud of the effort that this squad has put in throughout the season and this is a fantastic opportunity to finish on a high and give all of our fans something to cheer about.
“That said, we are going to have to do it the hard way and we couldn’t have got a much tougher challenge than an away trip to the Memorial Stadium to face Bristol on Paul Hull’s final match in charge.
“We have been improving more and more in recent weeks and went through every single emotion during the game against Worcester last week and that performance took a lot out of the lads.
“But it is a cup final, and motivating this group of players will not be difficult given what’s at stake. Everyone wants to lift a trophy and we’ll be doing everything we can on Saturday evening to make sure it comes back to Goldington Road with us.”
The Blues make just one change to the team that performed so outstandingly at Worcester last weekend. The fit again Ollie Dodge starts at inside centre instead of Tom Bedford who moves to a four/three bench in place of Will Fraser.
Starting line-up:
15. Edd Thrower
14. Handre Schmidt
13. Myles Dorrian
12. Ollie Dodge
11. James Pritchard (c)
10. Jake Sharp
9. Will Chudley
1. Dan Seal
2. Dan Richmond
3. Phil Boulton
4. Mike Howard
5. George Kruis
6. Gregor Gillanders
7. Alex Rae
8. Paul Tupai
Replacements: 16. Chris Locke, 17. Sam Walsh, 18. Sean Tomes, 19. Chris Goodman, 20. Darryl Veenendaal, 21. Tom Bedford, 22. Duncan Taylor.
IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset has hailed the global success of another record-breaking HSBC Sevens World Series. 
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