New Format Explored in Cape Town as SVNS Goes to Round 2

12.04.2024

hsbc svns emirates dubai 7s photo by zach franzen world rugby

Round One in the SVNS World Series is done and we're already seeing some changes in how the Series is conducted.

More on that a bit later, but first, let's look at where we stand.

As a refresher: teams earn points in each of the first six tournaments with the chief goal of being in the top eight in the standings. The top eight men's teams and the top eight women's teams will play in the final championship tournament to decide the World Series champions. Meanwhile, the bottom four teams in the standings after Round 6 in Singapore will play-off with the top four SVNS Series hopefuls in a requalification tournament.

So the SVNS season finishes off with four eight-team tournaments, two for championships, and two to get back into the World Series. And the venue for all that action? Los Angeles. All of that will be decided at Dignity Health Sports Park May 3-4. Tickets are on sale now.

Winless in Dubai, USA Men Close But Not There Yet

Now, here's a look at the standings:

LA Sevens at Dignity Health Sports Park May 3-4. Tickets are on Sale Now. Tap the image to get your tix!

2024-25 SVNS Series Women's Standings After Dubai:

1. Australia
2. New Zealand
3. France
4. Great Britain
5. USA
6. Ireland
7. Japan
8. Canada
9. Brazil
10. China
11. Spain
12. Fiji

2024-25 SVNS Series Men's Standings After Dubai:

1. Fiji
2. Spain
3. Argentina
4. New Zealand
5. France
6. South Africa
7. Australia
8. Great Britain
9. Uruguay
10. Kenya
11. Ireland
12. USA

Now to the format shift. Last year the SVNS World Series changed to having all men's and women's tournaments held on the same weekend at the same venue. This meant that the men's season was reduced in the number of tournaments, and the number of teams involved was reduced, too, as the men's tournaments were dropped from 16 to 12.

Still, the big challenge for the venues has been how to hold both the men's and women's tournaments at the same time. World Rugby has tried to help out here by reducing the number of consolation matches, but still the format of three pools of four and playoffs after that venues are hosting 64 games over the two weekends, which is about 22 or 23 hours of rugby. That's very difficult to hold on one field. Dubai had two fields, and Los Angeles will have two fields, but not every event will have two fields.

That is including Cape Town.

So what Cape Town is doing is changing the pools to four pools of three. With this format there are no quarterfinals. Everyone goes to a straight semifinal, with pool winners going into the Cup Semifinal, pool runners-up going into the 5th-place semifinal, and last-place in the pools going to the 9th-place semifinal.

It's actually a much more understandable format than what SVNS has been previously. Every team, then, plays four games, two pool matches and two matches to find their place. That means the tournament holds exactly 48 games—24 for the men and 24 for the women. And that's exactly how many games could be held in the old men's 16-team tournament.

The format means a few things. First off, if this is adopted by most tournaments, we're never going to see anyone break the career records in the World Series. Dan Norton's 358 tries (not to mention Perry Baker's #2 total of 293), or the 2,652 points scored by Ben Gollings, or Gaston Revol's record of 492 games, or Portia Woodman-Wickliffe's 256 tries may well be untouchable unless the season expands.

It also means that venues can host these double tournaments with just one field. Watch the Cape Town 7s on RugbyPass December 7-8 Here>>

And get your LA Sevens tickets, when you get to see four tournaments in one weekend, Tickets are on Sale Now>>

They will still have the same number of playoff rounds—each tournament holding 14 games including placement matches. But the pool games are drastically reduced from 18 to 12.

New Format Explored in Cape Town as SVNS Goes to Round 2

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