Darry Worthington previews the upcoming 2023/24 HSBC World Sevens Series which kicks off in Dubai on the first weekend of December.
The 2023-24 HSC World Sevens Series gets underway in just a couple weeks, and several changes have been made to the circuit for this year. Play-offs will decide the series champions while we’ll also see high-stakes promotion/relegation play-offs.
Below, Darry Worthington runs through the circuit changes and looks at the teams he reckons will be challenging for the 2023-24 crown.
Series Calendar
All the dates and host cities for the HSBC Sevens Series 2023/24, which all host men’s and women’s competitions:
- Dubai, UAE – 2-3 December, 2023
- Cape Town, South Africa – 9-10 December, 2023
- Perth, Australia – 26-28 January, 2024
- Vancouver, Canada – 23-25 February, 2024
- Los Angeles, USA – 2-3 March, 2024
- Hong Kong SAR, China – 5-7 April 2024
- Singapore, Singapore – 3-5 May 2024
- Madrid, Spain – 31 May-2 June, 2024 – Final & Relegation Play-Off
Let's get this party started! 🏉
— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) November 7, 2023
The pools have been announced for the first stop on the brand new #HSBCSVNS🔥
#HSBCSVNSDXB | @Dubai7s pic.twitter.com/h7w69C0RsG
Changes to the Calendar
Several tournaments have dropped off the calendar with New Zealand’s leg being the biggest casualty. There are still the classics, however, including the Dubai 7s, which will open the series up on the first weekend of December and the Hong Kong Sevens, which is at the start of April.
The real change to the dynamic for this season is that there will now be a final play-off weekend which will be played in Madrid at the close of May/start of June.
So how will this work? The top he top eight ranked teams after seven rounds – so after the Hong Kong Sevens – will the compete to be crowned Series Champions in a play-off style tournament in Madrid.
Meanwhile, the teams ranked ninth to 12th will join the top four ranked teams from the Challenger Series in a high-stakes relegation play-off competition which will see four teams secure their places in the next edition of the Series, with the latter also staged in Madrid.
Another exciting element to this year’s series is that men’s and women’s events will be staged on the same weekends.
While last year saw 16 core teams, we’re down to just 12 this year with Kenya, Uruguay and Japan dropping down to the Challenger series along with the invitational sides.
The core teams for the 2023/24 HSBC Sevens World Series are:
- Argentina
- AUstralia
- Canada
- Fiji
- France
- Great Britain
- Ireland
- New Zealand
- Samoa
- South Africa
- Spain
- USA
Series Challenges
Here I’ll have a look at some of the sides I expect to be challenging for the title come the Madrid leg of the series.
New Zealand
2022/23 Finish: Champions
The Kiwis were the dominant force last season winning six of the 11 tournaments on their way to claiming a 14th World Series title.
They fielded a young but extremely talented side last season with the likes of Macca Springer, Payton Spencer, Roderick Solo and Kitiona Vai lighting up the Series.
Unfortunately for the All Blacks Sevens side, it looks like Springer won’t be participating in the early rounds of the tournament as he will be plying his trade with the Crusaders in Super Rugby Pacific. There is some good news for Kiwi fans, however, with the other three young guns committing themselves to the shortened version of the game for the foreseeable future.
It will be interesting to see how this Kiwi side fares in 2023-24. They’ve managed to retain the majority of their playing personnel from their title run which will make them the most experienced side at the comp.
👑 Payton Spencer, King Carlos’ son scoring his first @nz_sevens try.
— Jared Wright (@jaredwright17) January 27, 2023
pic.twitter.com/GnF4zwrSux
South Africa
2022-23 Finish: Seventh
Sleeping giants? More like napping Brobdingnagians. Last season was one of the worst in recent memory for the Blitzboks as they could only muster up one tournament win on their way to finishing seventh on the Series standings.
In fairness to the South Africans, they had a new-look squad and were ravaged by injury throughout the campaign. Veterans like Siviwe Soyizwapi, Selvyn Davids and Justin Geduld spent extended periods on the sidelines through injury, while JC Pretorius was out as he was focussing on his XVs career.
The positive for the Blitzboks is that they capped a load of players last term and they found some absolute gems with diminutive scrum-half Ricardo Duartte one of the finds of the season.
They will have some of their big names back and with a wider playing pool to choose from, the South Africans should be a real threat during the Series.
Fast feet from Ricardo Duarttee ⚡️
— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) November 7, 2023
More like these to come @Dubai7s #HSBCSVNS | #HSBCSVNSDXB pic.twitter.com/gBKcgI1GPN
Fiji
2022-23 Finish: Third
While they finished a lot higher up the table than their South African counterparts, the 2022-23 season was equally frustrating for the 7s experts who only managed a couple of second and third places at tournaments on their way to a third-place series finish.
While the Fijians have bled a load of talented players to the country’s Super Rugby outfit the Drua, they still have a squad of vastly experienced players who will be looking for a return to form in the 2023-24 season.
Key to their chances of yet another HSBC World Sevens Series crown will be the availability of talisman Jerry Tuwai, who missed the bulk of last season due to injury.
One of the greats of Sevens Rugby! 🇫🇯
— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) March 23, 2023
Jerry Tuwai! 🐐#HSBC7s | @fijirugby pic.twitter.com/3m5Y1h2sQa
Argentina
2022-23 Finish: Runners-Up
Los Pumas 7s are really starting to become a threat on the Series stage as they were the only team to give the Kwis a real run last year finishing second by 21 Series points.
They have a very settled squad and although they have lost a couple of players to the XVs game, they should still be one of the sides to watch this term.
They’ve matured as a team and are not afraid to play to their strengths which is using their big forwards to pummel the opposition before spreading the ball wide for their dangerous speed merchants.
Rodrigo Isgro – the current Sevens Men’s Player of the Year – even made his XVs debut this year, and featured for Los Pumas in the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Quite the operation they’re building in Argentina!
From tearing it up on the sevens stage, to making his debut for @lospumas in the Rugby Championship 🔥
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) July 26, 2023
Is there anything Rodrigo Isgro can't do? 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/dSp8twv5Eg
Best of the Rest
While I expect the aforementioned teams to be the real challengers this term, the fact that the series has a play-off tournament makes things really interesting. If a team gets into the top eight by the time Hong Kong finishes, then they have every chance of lifting the title. Just think back to Wales’ Sevens World Cup win back in 2009.
I suspect the above four teams will be joined by Ireland, Australia, Great Britain and Samoa in the final Madrid tournament. The Irish just get better with each passing year, while Australia have a vastly experienced and talented side and as long as Eddie Jones doesn’t get a call-up to coach the 7s team then they should enjoy a good campaign.
Samoa are also vastly improved as their tournament win in South Africa last season attests to. I also fancy the Great Britain team to get their act together as they are loaded with talented players. France is also a side that could push for the top eight.
