2001 Cardiff Sevens Explained

Series:IRB Sevens II
Date:2–3 June 2001
Matches:41
Nextseason:2002

The 2001 Cardiff Sevens was an rugby sevens tournament that took place at the Rodney Parade with the finals being held at the Millennium Stadium. It took place between 2–3 June 2001 and was the first edition of the Cardiff Sevens and the final round of the 2000–01 World Sevens Series.

Heading into the tournament, New Zealand held an eight point lead over Australia with a semi-final placing in the cup being enough to give New Zealand the title. After both teams qualified through to the cup knockout stage with them only conceding ten points between the two, they would meet in the cup final with New Zealand taking out not only the Cardiff Sevens but the World Series with a 31–5 win over Australia. In the minor placings, Fiji took out the plate final defeating Wales while England won the bowl over Portugal.

Teams

16 teams participated in the final round of the World Sevens Series:

Format

The teams were drawn into four pools of four teams each. Each team played the other teams in their pool once, with 3 points awarded for a win, 2 points for a draw, and 1 point for a loss (no points awarded for a forfeit). The pool stage was played on the first day of the tournament. The top two teams from each pool advanced to the Cup/Plate brackets. The bottom two teams from each pool went on to the Bowl bracket.[1]

Summary

The opening day of the 2001 Cardiff Sevens saw the leading two nations (Australia and New Zealand) each finished top of their pool group while only conceding five points in their pool stage. The Northern hemisphere teams though had a day that they rather forget with only Wales qualifying through to the quarter-finals of the major European teams with France and Scotland not recording a single win while England only recorded 19-all draw with Spain before losing to the qualifiers of Pool C in Fiji in Georgia. Samoa finished ahead of South Africa in Pool D with the Samoans getting a 28–10 win.[2]

In the cup quarter-finals, New Zealand would take the World Sevens title defeating Wales 29-0 to claim their second World Sevens title. They would also go on to win the Cup final over Australia with tries from Chris Masoe and Damian Karauna securing a 31-5 victory. In the plate-final, Fiji took home the plate defeating host nation Wales who came back from 19-0 down against Georgia in the plate semi-final to win 26-19. England got the remaining two points as they home took the bowl final over Portugal.[3]

Pool stage

The pool stage was played on the first day of the tournament. The 16 teams were separated into four pools of four teams and teams in the same pool played each other once. The top two teams in each pool advanced to the Cup quarterfinals to compete for the 2001 Cardiff Sevens title.[4]

Key to colours in group tables
Teams that advanced to the Cup quarterfinals
Teams that advanced to the Bowl quarterfinals

Pool A

--------------------

Source: [5]

Pool B

--------------------

Source: [5]

Pool C

--------------------

Source: [5]

Pool D

--------------------

Source: [5]

Knockout stage

Bowl

Source: [5]

Plate

Source: [5]

Cup

Source: [5]

Tournament placings

PlaceTeamPoints
20
16
12
12
58
66
74
4
PlaceTeamPoints
92
100
110
0
130
0
0
0
Source: World Rugby

Series standings

At the completion of Round 9:


Pos.

Durban

Dubai

Wellington

Hong Kong

Shanghai

Kuala Lumpur

Tokyo

London

Cardiff
Points
total
120204 30 12 16 2020 20162
212 12 2018 202016 16 16 150
316 16 16 24 8 12 12 12 8 124
46 128 184 8 12121292
58 8 2 8 16128 8 1282
6126 6 8 4 4 2 4 4 50
70 4 0 8 6 0 6 6 2 32
84 0 4 8 2 0 4 4 0 26
90 0 0 3 0 4 4 2 6 19
10124 0 16
110 122 0 14
124 2 6 0 0 0 12
131212
140 4 4
152 2 0 0 4
160 0 0 4 4
172 2
180 1 0 0 1
190 0 0 0 0 0
200 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0
220 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
24 Arabian Gulf0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
310 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0 0 0

Source: world.rugby (archived)

Notes and References

  1. Web site: IRB Sevens - Format & Regulation - 16-team tournament . irbsevens.com . usurped . https://web.archive.org/web/20130520160501/http://irbsevens.com/seriesinfo/rules.html . 20 May 2013.
  2. Web site: Kiwis one win from sevens crown. Newport. 2 June 2001. 5 June 2020. ESPN Scrum.
  3. Web site: New Zealand Win Both Titles. International Rugby Board. 3 June 2001. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20011121124751/http://www.irbsevens.org/htmlfiles/150.htm. 21 November 2001.
  4. Web site: Pools for Final Tournament. International Rugby Board. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20011121073210/http://www.irbsevens.org/htmlfiles/130.htm. 21 November 2001.
  5. Web site: Cardiff Results. World Rugby. 5 June 2001.