Pointy End For Rugby Sevens Teams

Qualifying for Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 is a lot closer than most people may think with two rounds of the men’s HSBC Sevens tournament remaining, and one round for the women.

Twelve teams will compete for Gold at the Tokyo Olympics in both the men’s and women’s rugby 7s competition with Japan automatically qualifying as the hosting nation. The HSBC Sevens Series consists of a total of 20 men’s teams which means 19 teams will have to battle it out for the remaining 11 spots, and 15 women’s teams vying for the remaining 11 women’s spots. The top four teams in both men’s and women’s HSBC Sevens at the end of this season will automatically qualify for Tokyo 2020.

Current women’s standings will see the NZ Black Ferns likely take top spot with the results in the upcoming final leg of the tournament held in France having no impact on their qualification.

The remaining three spots will see USA, Canada and defending Gold medallist Australia try and hold on to the other 3 positions. France will look to climb the table and currently sit in 4th spot, 14 Pts behind Australia with both teams desperate to place in the top 4.

The Aussie women came away with a silver (18Pts) in the last round while France finished with 14pts. France will get a boost playing in front of their home crowd for the final round. We’re predicting there’ll be no changes to the current standings after the last round which will effectively lock in the first 5 women’s teams for Tokyo 2020.

1.    Japan - Automatic qualification

2.    NZ

3.    USA

4.    CAN

5.    AUST

6.    FRA (Could sneak in but unlikey)

A lot can happen in the remaining two rounds of the men’s HSBC Sevens tournament with potential gold and silver places having the ability to reshuffle the top 5 teams.

The Aussie men are in 7th place on 80 Pts and Samoa 6th place on 87 Pts and will need a miracle if they are to make the top 4. Otherwise, they’ll need to qualify through the repechage rounds.

England holds 5th spot at the moment with 107 Pts, with South Africa sitting dangerously in 4th with 121 Pts. Fiji and NZ are likely Olympic qualifiers with 142 Pts and 130 Pts respectively. The USA head the pack on 145 pts and are pretty much locked in for Tokyo 2020. We’re betting on the following standings at the end of the men’s HSBC Sevens season.

1.    Japan – Automatic qualification

2.    USA

3.    Fiji

4.    NZ

5.    RSA

6.    ENG (could sneak in but unlikely)

All will be revealed on 2nd June for the men’s teams and the 16th June for the women’s.