1999–2000 IRB Sevens
Series I
Hosts
Date2 December 1999 – 28 May 2000
Final positions
Champions New Zealand
Runners-up Fiji
Third Australia

The 1999–2000 World Sevens Series was the first season of the global circuit for men's national rugby sevens teams, organised by the International Rugby Board (now known as World Rugby). The series ran from December 1999 to May 2000 and incorporated ten tournaments spread over five continents. New Zealand was the series champion, winning five of the tournament events. Fiji finished as runner-up, eight points behind despite winning the remaining five tournaments. The leading try-scorer for the inaugural season was Fiji's Vilimoni Delasau, who notched 83 tries over the series.[1]

Schedule

The official schedule of ten events was announced by the International Rugby Board (IRB) on 2 December 1999. Prominent existing sevens tournaments were included in the new series, for the most part. The New Zealand and South Africa tournaments, however, were hosted as full international sevens events by their respective unions for the first time.[2][3] An eleventh tournament, to be held in England, was considered but this did not come to fruition and was left off the calendar.[4]

The prestige of the Hong Kong Sevens was acknowledged by increasing the points scale awarded to teams at the tournament by an extra 50 per cent. This recognised the special status of the event organized by the Hong Kong Rugby Union, played over three days instead of two and incorporating 24 teams instead of the usual 16.[5] The union had initially wanted the Hong Kong tournament to be the final stop of the tour,[6] but this proposal had been rejected earlier by the IRB.[7]

Leg Venue Dates Winner
Dubai Dubai Exiles Rugby Ground 2–3 December 1999  New Zealand
South Africa Danie Craven Stadium, Stellenbosch 10–11 December 1999  Fiji
Punta del Este Campus de Maldonado, Punta del Este 7–8 January 2000  New Zealand
Mar del Plata Estadio José María Minella, Mar del Plata 12–13 January 2000  Fiji
Wellington Westpac Stadium, Wellington 4–5 February 2000  Fiji
Fiji National Stadium, Suva 11–12 February 2000  New Zealand
Brisbane Lang Park, Brisbane 18–19 February 2000  Fiji
Hong Kong Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong 24–26 March 2000  New Zealand
Japan Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Tokyo 1–2 April 2000  Fiji
Paris Stade Sébastien Charléty, Paris 27–28 May 2000  New Zealand

Final standings

The points awarded to teams at each event, as well as the overall season totals, are shown in the table below. Points for the event winners are indicated in bold. A zero (0) is recorded in the event column where a team played in a tournament but did not gain any points, however excludes teams that did not accumulate any points overall. A dash (—) is recorded in the event column if a team did not compete at a tournament.

1999–2000 IRB Sevens – Series I
 
Pos.
Event 
Team
Dubai
Stellen­bosch
Punta del Este
Mar del Plata
Well­ing­ton
Suva
Bris­bane
Hong Kong
Tokyo
Paris		 Points
total
   
1 New Zealand 20162016162012301620186
2 Fiji 1620162020162024208180
3 Australia 88812121216181212118
4 Samoa 12612121212482282
5 South Africa 12121246612[lower-alpha 1]841680
6 Canada 4466844812460
7 Argentina –0484888—1252
8 France 602420644634
9 England ———————18—422
10  Tonga 42——402———12
 Georgia 012———————012
12  Papua New Guinea ————020—6—8
 Uruguay —040040———8
 Japan 00——0000808
15 Morocco 04———————04
16  Spain ——02——————2
 Scotland 2——————0—02

Source: World Rugby (archived)

Notes:

  1. ↑ South Africa reached the semi-final stage of the Brisbane Sevens but was stripped of all points for the tournament due to fielding ineligible players.[8]

Tournaments

Dubai

The opening tournament of the brand new series saw the teams head over to Dubai with the three day event starting on the Wednesday with the international tournament being played on the Thursday and Friday.[9] In the cup final, it was New Zealand that took out the cup final defeating Fiji by 24 points with Australia and Scotland taking out the plate and bowl respectively.[10]

Event Winners Score Finalists Semi-finalists
Cup  New Zealand 38–14  Fiji  South Africa
 Samoa
Plate  Australia 33–20  France  Tonga
 Canada
Bowl  Scotland 31–24  Zimbabwe  Kenya
 United States

South Africa

Event Winners Score Finalists Semi-finalists
Cup  Fiji 12–10  New Zealand  Georgia
 South Africa
Plate  Australia 22–19  Samoa  Canada
 Morocco
Bowl  Tonga 31–26  Argentina  Uruguay
 Namibia

Punta del Este

Event Winners Score Finalists Semi-finalists
Cup  New Zealand 42–19  Fiji  South Africa
 Samoa
Plate  Australia 27–12  Canada  Uruguay
 Argentina
Bowl  France 31–12  Germany  Chile
 Spain

Mar del Plata

Event Winners Score Finalists Semi-finalists
Cup  Fiji 26–14  New Zealand  Samoa
 Australia
Plate  Argentina 41–7  Canada  France
 South Africa
Bowl  Spain 40–7  Chile  United States
 Germany

Wellington

Event Winners Score Finalists Semi-finalists
Cup  Fiji 24–14  New Zealand  Samoa
 Australia
Plate  Canada 24–21  South Africa  Argentina
 Tonga
Bowl  France 47–12  Croatia  Japan
 Papua New Guinea

Fiji

Event Winners Score Finalists Semi-finalists
Cup  New Zealand 31–5  Fiji  Samoa
 Australia
Plate  Argentina 17–14  South Africa  Canada
 Uruguay
Bowl  Papua New Guinea 21–17  Tonga  Japan
 France

Australia

Event Winners Score Finalists Semi-finalists
Cup  Fiji 24–21  Australia  South Africa
 New Zealand
Plate  Argentina 33–14  France  Samoa
 Canada
Bowl  Tonga 43–0  Papua New Guinea  Hong Kong
 Uruguay

Hong Kong

Event Winners Score[11] Finalists Semi-finalists Quarter-finalists
Cup  New Zealand 31–5  Fiji  Australia
 England		  Argentina
 Canada
 Samoa
 South Africa
Plate  France 19–14  Croatia  Italy
 Hong Kong		  Scotland
 South Korea
 United States
 Japan
Bowl  Ireland 59–7  China  Thailand
Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf Arabian Gulf		  Chinese Taipei
 Malaysia
 Sri Lanka
 Singapore

Japan

Event Winners Score Finalists Semi-finalists
Cup  Fiji 27–22  New Zealand  Canada
 Australia
Plate  Japan 26–14  Papua New Guinea  France
 South Africa
Bowl  Samoa 19–12  South Korea  Hong Kong
 United States

France

Event Winners Score Finalists Semi-finalists
Cup  New Zealand 69–10  South Africa  Australia
 Argentina
Plate  Fiji 45–7  France  Canada
 England
Bowl  Samoa 37–5  Morocco  Ireland
French Barbarians

References

  1. ↑ Sevens Briefs Archived 7 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Fiji Times, 14 December 2014.
  2. ↑ "Series schedule complete". International Rugby Board. 2 December 1999. Archived from the original on 15 July 2001.
  3. ↑ "Welcome to the IRB World Sevens Series Website". International Rugby Board. 1 December 1999. Archived from the original on 17 October 2000.
  4. ↑ Sallay, Alvin (28 March 2000). "England in line to host sevens final". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 6 February 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  5. ↑ Sallay, Alvin (15 November 1999). "World Sevens Series recognises HK as premier event". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 1 September 2020. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  6. ↑ Sallay, Alvin (25 March 1999). "HK hopes to host sevens circuit finale". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  7. ↑ Sallay, Alvin (28 March 1999). "IRB acknowledges HK Sevens' special status". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 6 February 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  8. ↑ "New Zealand leaves Fijian nationality issue to IRB". espnscrum.com. 14 November 2000. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016.
  9. ↑ "World Sevens Series set for spectacular launch". International Rugby Board. 30 October 1999. Archived from the original on 15 July 2001.
  10. ↑ "New Zealand lead series table". International Rugby Board. 3 December 1999. Archived from the original on 7 July 2002.
  11. ↑ "Kiwis claim Hong Kong crown", BBC, 26 March 2000.

Sources

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