The Sevens World Series stop in Hamilton, NZ is a huge event for the series as a whole.
As we discussed earlier this month—Tracking Olympic Prospects as LA 7s Approaches—the men's standings are kind of packed close, so no one is in a position where they can be assured of one of those four automatic berths to the 2024 Olympics.
While certainly Los Angeles (tickets available at lasevensrugby.com/tickets) will be instrumental in deciding those top four, Hamilton will be a place where one team could create some separation. And remember, as we also point out—The Other World Series Chase: To Stay in the Series—other teams have to be worried about not coming back to next year's smaller circuit.
Pool A |
Pool B |
Pool C |
Pool D |
Pool A ius a bit brutal with a tough road for Kenya to get to the top eight and fix their overall standings points total, and one of three higher-standings teams (Samoa, Fiji, and France) not getting to the Quarters.
The seedings for the tournament are based on how teams finished in the last tournament, so Australia, certainly one of the nations everyone is worried about player, are actually the 3rd-seeded team in Pool B. But they could easily return to the form that saw them win in Hong Kong.
The USA is in a very good situation. Ireland seems a bit down this year but can't be ruled out. Japan is in desperate position to get out of the standings cellar. Uruguay is a bit of an upstart team and can't be overlooked. But the USA team has a huge chance to make a move here without running their players into the ground on Day One. Of course, making the Top 8 is only half the battle. In the quarterfinals they will meet, most likely, New Zealand or Australia ... oh, OK ... that's different.
South Africa and Argentina are easy favorites to progress from Pool D. So that means the race to stay in the circuit for Spain and Canada will likely be about being great on Day Two.
