Men's Rugby Sevens WR World Series 2022 - 2023

[JoshMartini007 2,765]

6 hours ago, LDOG said:

Yes, but "finish top 4 of world series" is an objective criteria, being "too competitive" isn't.  

Where's that competitiveness line drawn exactly? 6th in the world? 8th? 10th? 12th? 

  

Their women's team would have legitimate reasons to complain if the decision to take one continental quota but not the other is purely discretional. 

 

I'd guess there is an established secondary criteria but so far no official word about it (unless I missed something?). Men's team failing to secure a world series quota is a first time after all.  

While nothing is concrete I suspect the women will have to win the Challenger Series.

 

It is a bit ridiculous that they accepted the water polo teams in 2020, but not the women's rugby sevens team.

[SalamAkhi 330]

14 hours ago, Cinnamon Bun said:

Malaysia and Sri Lanka both have decent teams. Would not be surprised if either of them qualified ahead of them.  

Well, they are not bad teams (I was pleasantly surprised by Sri Lanka at the CG) but let's be honest, they won't feature. Malaysia is not even assured to take part to the OQT as they finished last in the 2022 Asian Series, but the format is not known at the moment. 

Japan's main opponents will be  Hong Kong (China ) , whose team is now fully professional, and  South Korea. We've already had a glimpse of what HK can produce these past weeks (1-1 against Japan), and shall see them in the Challenger Series later this month, along with South Korea.

Less known and established but capable of a surprise are  the United Arab Emirates, with their contingent of naturalized players.
Then  PR China could cause an upset, like  Sri Lanka and  the Philippines. 

[intoronto 6,420]

Canada into the SFs in France. A little too late.

[LDOG 2,469]

qualified for OG.

  

 

[JoshMartini007 2,765]

Australia could have solidified their spot at the Olympics, but choked to Canada. They can still be in a good position if they defeat South Africa in their next match.

 

Spain needs to at least defeat Samoa if they want to leap frog Uruguay for the last guaranteed core spot

[LDOG 2,469]

 qualified too.  

  

Before the last stage, the last olympic quota is up for grabs: 

  

 125

 116

 116

 

 

 

will stay as core team after finishing higher than . 

 

 

 

[JoshMartini007 2,765]

If Australia makes the semis next week they will guarantee a spot to the Olympics. Both Samoa and South Africa have to at least make the cup quarters to have a chance to qualify.

[Benolympique 2,414]

how can australia qualify for paris next sunday? will there be an oceania tournament if that happens? do we know the bands for london next weekend?

[JoshMartini007 2,765]

1 hour ago, Benolympique said:

how can australia qualify for paris next sunday? will there be an oceania tournament if that happens? do we know the bands for london next weekend?

 

As long as Australia don't allow Samoa or South Africa to make up a 9 point deficit next week they will qualify. A semifinal appearance will guarantee it, but if Samoa or South Africa don't win the event then a worse performance will be enough.

 

The Oceania Championship will still offer an Olympic quota with Samoa being the heavy favourite to qualify for the first time. Considering how well Tonga performed this year there's an outside chance we could see five Oceania nations at the Olympics.

[SalamAkhi 330]

20 hours ago, JoshMartini007 said:

If Australia makes the semis next week they will guarantee a spot to the Olympics. Both Samoa and South Africa have to at least make the cup quarters to have a chance to qualify.

Keep in mind London 7s will be a 12-teams tournament since three of the current core teams will play the repêchages :    + 

Depending on which scoring system they decide to use Australia could settle for 5th (women's series with 12 teams scoring).

 

As for the repêchages Uruguay would have started as favorites before Paris but Canada is cooking. It appears all three of the core teams were in the same group and Canada surely gained some huge confidence. Heartbreaking situation for Uruguay, losing to Fiji with Spain edging them by one point as they beat Samoa. Tonga could pull an upset and Kenya seem out of touch.

 

Looking forward to the regional qualifiers Uruguay could redeem themselves should they fail to maintain thanks to Argentina qualifying directly through the World Series. Europe, as usual, will be the most interesting.  and  are the favorites, but  has shown great consistency lately and their renewed core status will give them an extra boost. Then you have the outsiders, namely  and . Germany looks to have missed the boat of elite status, failing repeatedly to access the WS and now that the gateway is shrinking they are at their lowest. Belgium on the other hand are steadily improving and the Challenger can offer them some hope to shaken up the established order. Then you have one or two dark horses in  and . Don't know which side will turn up but I'd keep an eye on those two.