Dubai Women's Sevens
The Dubai Women's Sevens is an annual rugby union sevens tournament held in Dubai, UAE. The tournament includes several competitions including, since 2006, an international women's invitational competition. Though most entrants are ad hoc sides composed of club and international players from a variety of (generally European) countries, some are official national selections - the results of matches between such sides appear below.
Until the 2007 edition was held at the Dubai Exiles Rugby Ground, in 2008 it moved to The Sevens, a new stadium built to host the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens.[1] The 2009 competition took place between 3–5 December.
In 2011, a new competition was launched by International Rugby Board (IRB) - the IRB Women's Challenge Cup - as a first step towards a full schedule of IRB-sponsored women's sevens events for 2012–13 season. It featured eight official national teams. The traditional international women's invitational competition also took place on neighbouring pitches.
On 4 October 2012, the IRB announced the launch of the IRB Women's Sevens World Series for the 2012–13 season. The Dubai competition will be the first of four events in the inaugural season.[2]
Women
| Year | Venue | Cup | Plate | Bowl | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | Final Score | Runner-up | Winner | Winner | ||
| 2011 | The Sevens |  Canada |
26 - 7 |  England |
 Spain |
|
| 2012 |  New Zealand |
41 - 0 |  South Africa |
 Russia |
 United States | |
| 2013 |  Australia |
35 - 27 | New Zealand |
England |
 Fiji | |
| 2014 | New Zealand |
19 - 17 | Australia |
England |
 Brazil | |
| 2015 | Australia |
31 - 12 | Russia |
New Zealand |
 Japan | |
Winners
Dubai Tournament 2006
No official national selections.
Dubai Tournament 2007
Played on 1 and 2 December 2007 at Dubai (Source Canada Union) Participants included Canada and USA, but there were no inter-national matches
Dubai Tournament 2008
Date: 27–29 November 2008.
- England played as England Sporting Chance Foundation. USA did not have this tournament listed as part of their preparation. Netherlands and Canada are believed to have been near full strength as were the England team. A Kenyan team had entered, but withdrew (Source Netherlands rugby)
Group Games
- Sporting Chance Foundation (England) 34-7 USA
- Canada 33-5 WOP Netherlands
Semi Final
- Sporting Chance Foundation (England) 12-5 Canada
- England went on to win the final. USA and Canada were joint third. Netherlands won the plate.
- At the same time a "Gulf" competition was played but the results are not included as none of the "nations" has its own union.
Dubai Tournament 2009
Venue/Date: 4 December 2009, Dubai. As ever the status of some teams is debatable. Possible International match ups are:
Group Games
- Georgia 0-54 Arabian Gulf
- France 21-12 USA
- Kenya 17-21 Arabian Gulf
- Georgia 0-41 Kenya
Classification Stages
- Kenya 5-26 USA (Plate semi-final)
- France finished as champions
- Arabian Gulf and Kenya both lost in the Plate semi-finals
- USA lost in the Plate final
Dubai Tournament 2010
Venue/Date: 2–3 December 2009, Dubai. As ever the status of some teams is debatable. Fixtures between what appear to be international teams are:
Group Games
- France 35 Brazil 0
- France 12 Almaty-Kazakhstan[3] 0
- Almaty-Kazakhstan 12 Brazil 7
- France finished as runners-up (winners Samurai Dubai included several England players).
- Kenya and Almaty-Kazakhstan lost in the cup quarter-finals
- Brazil finished as runner-up in the Plate (losing to Pink Ba-Baas, composed of English club players).
Dubai Tournament 2011
2–3 December 2011
IRB Women's Sevens Challenge Cup
The first fully sanctioned IRB women's tournament (apart from the 2009 World Cup). Held alongside that year's Dubai Sevens and the normal Women's Invitational, with the semi-finals, the final and all of the Pool A games held on the main pitch. Part of a plan to launch a full IRB International Women's Sevens Series for 2012–13. Selection criteria were not revealed by the IRB, though the teams selected and the seedings roughly reflected the 2009 World Cup rankings - but with China and Brazil invited instead of Spain and France in order to give worldwide representation. Spain were later included when New Zealand declined their invitation to attend.[4]
POOL A
| Nation | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 3 | 0 | 0 | 64 | 21 |
| Australia | 2 | 0 | 1 | 59 | 19 |
| Spain | 1 | 0 | 2 | 36 | 31 |
| Brazil | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 88 |
- Australia 12-5 Spain
- Canada 31-0 Brazil
- Australia 40-0 Brazil
- Canada 19-14 Spain
- Australia 7-14 Canada
- Spain 17-0 Brazil
5th to 8th Place
- South Africa 19-5 Brazil
- Spain 22-14 China
7th Place
- Brazil 14-17 China
5th Place
- South Africa 0-28 Spain
POOL B
| Nation | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 3 | 0 | 0 | 79 | 34 |
| USA | 2 | 0 | 1 | 36 | 48 |
| South Africa | 1 | 0 | 2 | 57 | 58 |
| China | 0 | 0 | 3 | 36 | 68 |
- USA 22-10 South Africa
- England 26-15 China
- USA 14-7 China
- England 22-19 South Africa
- South Africa 28-14 China
- England 31-0 USA
Semi Finals
- England 12-10 Australia
- Canada 36-0 USA
3rd Place
- Australia 22-5 USA
Final
- England 7-26 Canada
Women's International Invitational Tournament
This tournament, as usual, featured a mixture of national selections and international invitational teams. The official national teams were France and Kenya in Pool A, and Netherlands and "Maple Leafs" (the Canadian development team) in Pool B. Unofficial teams were Moscow Region and Tuks (South African universities) in Pool A, and Iron Ladies (Ukraine) and Team Globaleye (international team) in Pool B.
- Netherlands reach the final, where they beat the Maple Leafs
- France were knocked-out in the semi-finals by Maple Leafs
- Kenya lost all of their pool games, but finished as runner-up in the plate.
The following are the results of the games involving the official national selections (including the Maple Leafs, though their games are not internationals) - full results can be found here.
Pool games
- Netherlands 21-0 Maple Leafs
- France 35-0 Kenya
Semi-finals
- France 0-12 Maple Leafs
Final
- Netherlands 17-5 Maple Leafs
Dubai Tournament 2012
IRB Women's Sevens World Series
|
Group A
Group B
Plate Semi Finals (5th-8th)
7th/8th Match
Plate final: 5th/6th Match
|
Group C
Bowl Semi Finals (9th-12th)
11th/12th Match
Bowl final:9th/10th Match
Quarter-finals (1st-8th)
Cup Semi Finals (1st-4th)
3rd/4th place
Cup Final: 1st/2nd place
|
Women's Invitational Tournament
|
Semi-finals
Final
|
Dubai Tournament 2014
IRB Women's Sevens World Series
|
Group A
Group B
Plate Semi Finals (5th-8th)
7th/8th Match
Plate final: 5th/6th Match
|
Group C
Bowl Semi Finals (9th-12th)
11th/12th Match
Bowl final:9th/10th Match
Quarter-finals (1st-8th)
Cup Semi Finals (1st-4th)
3rd/4th place
Cup Final: 1st/2nd place
|
International Invitational
|
Group A
Bowl final (9th-10th)
Plate Semi Finals (5th-8th)
Plate final: 5th/6th Match
|
Group C
Cup Semi Finals (1st-4th)
Cup Final: 1st/2nd place
|
Dubai Tournament 2015
IRB Women's Sevens World Series
|
Group A
Group B
Plate Semi Finals (5th-8th)
7th/8th Match
Plate final: 5th/6th Match
|
Group C
Bowl Semi Finals (9th-12th)
11th/12th Match
Bowl final:9th/10th Match
Quarter-finals (1st-8th)
Cup Semi Finals (1st-4th)
3rd/4th place
Cup Final: 1st/2nd place
|
International Invitational
|
Group A
Group B
Bowl semi-finals (9th-12th)
Bowl final: 9th/10th Match
|
Group C
Cup Quarter Finals (1st-8th)
Plate Semi Finals (1st-4th)
7th/8th place
Plate Final: 5th/6th place
Cup Semi Finals (1st-4th)
3rd/4th place
Cup Final: 1st/2nd place
|
References
- ↑ "Emirates unveils Dubai venue 'The Sevens'". International Rugby Board. 2008-07-02. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
- ↑ "IRB announces Women's Sevens World Series" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 4 October 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
- ↑ This would appear to be effectively the Kazakhstan national team
- ↑ "First IRB Women's Sevens event announced" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 14 September 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
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