2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying – Men

This is the qualifications of the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens aimed at selecting men's rugby sevens national teams that appeared in the finals in San Francisco. A total of 55 nations took part in the qualifying process.

General

The tournament is organized by World Rugby to be held on 20–22 July 2018, with twenty-four teams in attendance. Automatic qualification is extended to the host and the eight quarterfinalists of the previous World Cup. Four more teams qualified based on placement in the 2016-17 World Rugby Sevens Series, and the remainder are to be decided in each of the six regions' respective tournaments.[1]

Qualified teams

Africa	North America	South America	Asia	Europe	Oceania
Automatic qualification
Kenya  South Africa	United States			England  France  Wales	Australia  Fiji  New Zealand
2016–17 World Series
	Canada	Argentina		Scotland	Samoa
Regional Qualifiers
Uganda  Zimbabwe	Jamaica	Chile  Uruguay	Hong Kong  Japan	Ireland  Russia	Papua New Guinea  Tonga

Qualifying

Legend
Qualified to 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens
Already qualified

Africa

Ten teams competed in Rugby Africa's Sevens tournament on 6–7 October 2017 in Kampala, Uganda, and contested the two qualifying slots. By making it to the finals then winning, Uganda makes its first ever World Cup appearance.[2]

Rank	Team
	Uganda
	Zimbabwe
	Madagascar
4	Zambia
5	Tunisia
6	Senegal
7	Morocco
8	Botswana
9	Ghana
10	Mauritius

North America

The qualifying tournament, which is also Rugby Americas North Sevens, took place at the Campo Marte in Mexico City, 25–26 November 2017.[3] Jamaica won the tournament to make its first World Cup appearance.

Rank	Team
	Jamaica
	Guyana
	Mexico
4	Trinidad and Tobago
5	Cayman Islands
6	Bermuda
7	Barbados
8	Dominican Republic
9	British Virgin Islands
10	Curaçao

South America

The 2017 Bolivarian Games rugby sevens tournament on 19–21 November served as the first part of the South American qualification process. Silver-winning Paraguay advanced to the 2018 Sudamérica Rugby Sevens, where from 6–14 January they compete alongside Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay and some invitational teams.[4] After the two tournaments, respective third and fourth-place finishers Uruguay and Chile qualified.[5]

Asia

From 1 September to 14 October, eight teams competed in Hong Kong, Incheon and Colombo for two World Cup slots. Japan and Hong Kong respectively rounded up the top two teams, making them eligible for the World Cup.[6]

Rank	Team	Hong Kong	Incheon	Colombo	Points
	Japan	12	10	10	32
	Hong Kong	10	8	12	30
	South Korea	8	12	7	27
4	Sri Lanka	5	5	8	18
5	China	7	7	2	16
6	Philippines	4	2	5	11
7	Malaysia	2	4	4	10
8	Chinese Taipei	1	1	1	3

Europe

From 4 June to 16 July 2017, twelve teams competed at the Sevens Grand Prix in Moscow, Łódź, Clermont-Ferrand and Exeter, of which nine contested two World Cup spots with England, France and Wales already automatically qualified.

Rank	Team	Moscow	Łódź	Clermont-Ferrand	Exeter	Points
	Russia	16	20	18	20	74
	Ireland	20	16	20	16	72
	Spain	18	18	16	6	58
4	Wales	3	14	12	18	47
5	Germany	8	12	14	8	42
6	France	12	8	10	4	34
7	Georgia	6	6	6	12	30
8	Portugal	10	2	1	14	27
9	England	4	10	3	10	27
10	Italy	14	4	4	3	22
11	Belgium	2	3	8	2	15
12	Poland	1	1	2	1	5

Oceania

Thirteen teams competed on 10–11 November 2017 in Suva, Fiji, of which nine teams sought one of the two allotted World Cup slots based upon their placement with Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and Samoa already qualified.[7] With Papua New Guinea claiming that slot, the second continental slot was awarded to the champion of the 2017 Pacific Mini Games tournament on 8–9 December.[8] Through edging out Solomon Islands for the Bronze Medal, only behind Fiji and Samoa, Tonga qualified.[9]

Oceania Sevens Rank Team  Fiji  New Zealand  Australia  Samoa 5  Papua New Guinea 6  Cook Islands 7  American Samoa  Tonga 9  New Caledonia  Solomon Islands 11  Nauru  Vanuatu 13  Tuvalu

Pacific Mini Games Rank Team  Samoa  Fiji  Tonga 4  Solomon Islands 5  New Caledonia 6  Nauru 7  Vanuatu 8  Niue 9  Wallis and Futuna 10  Tuvalu

References

1. "Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 Qualification Process". rwcsevens.com. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
2. "Uganda and Zimbabwe qualify for RWC Sevens 2018". World Rugby. 7 October 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
3. "Mexico City to Host 2017 Rugby Americas North Sevens Tournament - Rugby Americas North". rugbyamericasnorth.com. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
4. "#7s – Tres torneos sudamericanos en los próximos meses" (in Spanish). 23 October 2017. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
5. "Uruguay and Chile qualify for RWC Sevens 2018". World Rugby. 14 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
6. "Hong Kong Triumph In Colombo With Extra Time Win Over Japan". Asia Rugby. 16 October 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
7. "Top teams for Oceania 7s championship". Fiji Times. 20 September 2017. Archived from the original on 20 September 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
8. "Papua New Guinea qualify for first RWC Sevens". World Rugby. 11 November 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
9. "Samoa wins the gold but Tonga secures the bigger prize". van2017.com. 9 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.

External links

• official website