Dubai Women's Sevens

The Dubai Women's Sevens is an annual rugby sevens tournament held in Dubai, UAE. The tournament includes several competitions including, since 1994,^[1] 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.

The first Dubai women's sevens competition was held in 1994, where it was won by Kuwait who defeated the Royal Hong Kong Police in the final.^[2] 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.^[3] 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.^[4]

Results

Year	Venue	Cup final			Placings			Ref
IRB Challenge		Winner	Score	Runner-up	Plate	Bowl	Shield
2011	The Sevens	Canada	26–7	England	Australia	Spain	n/a
World Series		Winner	Score	Runner-up	Plate	Bowl	Shield
2012	The Sevens	New Zealand	41–0	South Africa	Spain	Russia	United States	[5]
2013	The Sevens	Australia	35–27	New Zealand	Russia	England	Fiji	[6]
2014	The Sevens	New Zealand	19–17	Australia	Canada	England	Brazil	[7]
2015	The Sevens	Australia	31–12	Russia	England	New Zealand	Japan	[8]
		Winner	Score	Runner-up	Third	Fourth	Fifth
2016	The Sevens	New Zealand	17–5	Australia	Russia	England	Fiji	[9]
2017	The Sevens	Australia	34–0	United States	Russia	Canada	New Zealand	[10]
2018	The Sevens	New Zealand	26–14	Canada	Australia	United States	Russia
2019	The Sevens	New Zealand	17–14	Canada	United States	Australia	France
2020	The Sevens	Tournament cancelled						[11]
2021 I	The Sevens	Australia	22–7	Fiji	France	Russia	Great Britain
2021 II	The Sevens	Australia	15–5	Fiji	France	Russia	United States
2022	The Sevens	Australia	26–19	New Zealand	United States	France	Fiji
2023	The Sevens	Australia	26–19	New Zealand	France	Canada	Fiji
2024	The Sevens	Australia	28–24	New Zealand	France	Great Britain	United States

Earlier winners

• 2008: England
• 2009: France
• 2010: Samurai International RFC
• 1994: Kuwait

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.

Full results

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

All results

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^[12] 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).

(Full results)

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.^[13]

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 Nation Won Drawn Lost For Against  South Africa 2 0 1 39 15  England 2 0 1 44 27  Spain 2 0 1 31 17  Brazil 0 0 3 5 60  England 5-20  South Africa  Spain 19-0  Brazil  England 22-0  Brazil  South Africa 0-5  Spain  Brazil 5-19  South Africa  England 17-7  Spain Group B Nation Won Drawn Lost For Against  Russia 2 1 0 54 24  New Zealand 1 2 0 55 24  Canada 1 1 1 58 27  China 0 0 3 0 83  Canada 12-15  Russia  New Zealand 31-0  China  Canada 32-0  China  Russia 12-12  New Zealand  China 0-27  Russia  Canada 12-12  New Zealand Plate Semi Finals (5th-8th) Canada 24–0 England Netherlands 5–21 Russia 7th/8th Match England 26–5 Netherlands Plate final: 5th/6th Match Canada 10–14 Russia

Group C Nation Won Drawn Lost For Against  Australia 3 0 0 68 19  Netherlands 2 0 1 38 43  United States 1 0 2 41 39  France 0 0 3 24 70  Australia 24-12  Netherlands  United States 27-12  France  Australia 29-0  France  United States 7-12  Netherlands  France 12-14  Netherlands  Australia 15-7  United States Bowl Semi Finals (9th-12th) France 22–0 Brazil USA 36–7 China 11th/12th Match Brazil 17–19 China Bowl final:9th/10th Match France 12–26 USA Quarter-finals (1st-8th) Australia 14–10 Canada New Zealand 31–0 England South Africa 12–7 Netherlands Russia 5–7 Spain Cup Semi Finals (1st-4th) Australia 12–24 New Zealand South Africa 19–17 Spain 3rd/4th place Australia 5–17 Spain Cup Final: 1st/2nd place New Zealand 41–0 South Africa

Women's Invitational Tournament

Maple Leafs 17–0 Kenya Lionesses UAE Women 0–7 Moscow Region Tuks Ladies Rugby 7s 5–10 Swedish Vikings 7s Maple Leafs 36–0 UAE Women Moscow Region 12–12 Swedish Vikings 7s Kenya Lionesses 21–0 Tuks Ladies Rugby 7s Maple Leafs 32–0 Moscow Region Kenya Lionesses 22–14 Swedish Vikings 7s UAE Women 0–22 Tuks Ladies Rugby 7s Maple Leafs 29–0 Tuks Ladies Rugby 7s Kenya Lionesses 7–5 Moscow Region UAE Women 0–15 Swedish Vikings 7s Kenya Lionesses 12–5 UAE Women Maple Leafs 22–7 Swedish Vikings 7s Moscow Region 0–12 Tuks Ladies Rugby 7s

Nation Won Drawn Lost For Against  Maple Leafs 5 0 0 136 7  Kenya Lionesses 4 0 1 62 41  Swedish Vikings 2 1 2 68 51  Tuks 2 0 3 39 60  Moscow Region 1 1 3 24 63  UAE 0 0 5 5 92 Semi-finals Maple Leafs 31–7 Tuks Kenya Lionesses 7–0 Swedish Vikings Final Maple Leafs 27–5 Kenya Lionesses

Dubai Tournament 2014

IRB Women's Sevens World Series

Group A Nation Won Drawn Lost For Against  New Zealand 3 0 0 96 31  United States 2 0 1 97 36  Russia 1 0 2 71 51  China 0 0 3 5 151 New Zealand 43–0 China Russia 12–17 United States New Zealand 24–19 United States Russia 47–5 China United States 61–0 China New Zealand 29–12 Russia Group B Nation Won Drawn Lost For Against  Australia 3 0 0 99 10  France 2 0 1 65 31  South Africa 0 1 2 17 53  Spain 0 1 2 17 86 Australia 36–0 South Africa Spain 0–31 France Australia 24–10 France Spain 17–17 South Africa France 24–7 South Africa Australia 39–0 Spain Plate Semi Finals (5th-8th) Fiji 24–21 United States England 21–19 Russia 7th/8th Match United States 22–20 Russia Plate final: 5th/6th Match England 12–19 Fiji (AET)

Group C Nation Won Drawn Lost For Against  England 3 0 0 72 19  Canada 2 0 1 85 32  Fiji 1 0 2 28 67  Brazil 0 0 3 22 47 Canada 26–10 Brazil England 26–0 Fiji Canada 47–5 Fiji England 29–7 Brazil Fiji 21–12 Brazil England 17–12 Canada Bowl Semi Finals (9th-12th) South Africa 17–0 China Spain 14–19 Brazil 11th/12th Match China 5–28 Spain Bowl final:9th/10th Match South Africa 7–17 Brazil Quarter-finals (1st-8th) Australia 47–0 Fiji United States 0–36 Canada England 5–7 France New Zealand 19–17 Russia Cup Semi Finals (1st-4th) Australia 29–7 Canada France 10–31 New Zealand 3rd/4th place Canada 10–5 France (AET) Cup Final: 1st/2nd place Australia 17–19 New Zealand

International Invitational

Group A Nation Won Drawn Lost For Against Tribe (AUS) 4 0 0 91 20 Almaty (KAZ) 3 0 1 73 40 WC Vikings (SWE) 2 0 2 60 48 Angels 1 0 3 46 77 Tuks (RSA) 0 0 4 24 80 Angels 12–19 Almaty WC Vikings 31–5 Tuks Almaty 17–7 WC Vikings Tribe 24–5 Angels WC Vikings 0–19 Tribe Tuks 7–27 Almaty Tribe 34–5 Tuks Angels 7–22 WC Vikings Almaty 10–14 Tribe Tuks 12–22 Angels Bowl final (9th-10th) Tuks 24–5 Georgia Plate Semi Finals (5th-8th) WC Vikings 5–12 Kenya Wales 41–0 Angels Plate final: 5th/6th Match Wales 29–0 Kenya

Group C Nation Won Drawn Lost For Against  Ireland 3 1 0 126 24 Moscow 3 1 0 102 26  Wales 2 0 2 79 76  Kenya 1 0 3 51 100  Georgia 0 0 4 12 116 Ireland 12–12 Moscow Wales 24–12 Kenya Moscow 24–7 Wales Georgia 0–48 Ireland Kenya 7–28 Moscow Wales 43–7 Georgia Ireland 33–5 Wales Georgia 5–25 Kenya Moscow 38–0 Georgia Kenya 7–43 Ireland Cup Semi Finals (1st-4th) Ireland 24–19 Almaty Tribe 17–12 Moscow Cup Final: 1st/2nd place Tribe 0–19 Ireland

Dubai Tournament 2015

IRB Women's Sevens World Series

Group A Nation Won Drawn Lost For Against  Russia 3 0 0 95 24  New Zealand 2 0 1 64 50  France 1 0 2 54 47  Brazil 0 0 3 10 102 New Zealand 7–33 Russia France 25–5 Brazil New Zealand 36–5 Brazil France 17–21 Russia New Zealand 21–12 France Russia 41–0 Brazil Group B Nation Won Drawn Lost For Against  Fiji 3 0 0 75 39  Canada 2 0 1 62 31  Ireland 1 0 2 29 49  United States 0 0 3 24 71 Canada 10–24 Fiji United States 5–12 Ireland Canada 17–7 Ireland United States 19–24 Fiji Canada 35–5 United States Fiji 27–10 Ireland Plate Semi Finals (5th-8th) Spain 12–21 Canada Fiji 12–33 New Zealand 7th/8th Match Spain 14–31 Fiji Plate final: 5th/6th Match Canada 19–24 New Zealand (AET)

Group C Nation Won Drawn Lost For Against  Australia 3 0 0 93 14  England 2 0 1 56 31  Spain 1 0 2 40 52  Japan 0 0 3 12 104 Australia 26–7 Spain England 35–0 Japan Australia 43–0 Japan England 14–7 Spain Australia 24–7 England Spain 26–12 Japan Bowl Semi Finals (9th-12th) Ireland 7–29 Brazil Japan 15–14 United States 11th/12th Match Ireland 24–31 United States Bowl final:9th/10th Match Brazil 0–13 Japan Quarter-finals (1st-8th) Russia 24–0 Spain Fiji 12–19 France Australia 15–12 New Zealand Canada 12–17 England Cup Semi Finals (1st-4th) Russia 19–12 England Australia 26–0 France 3rd/4th place England 10–5 France (AET) Cup Final: 1st/2nd place Russia 12–31 Australia

International Invitational

Group A Nation Won Drawn Lost For Against Maple Leafs 3 0 0 108 7 South Africa 2 0 1 75 19 Belgium 1 0 2 27 93 Tabusoro Angels Inter 0 0 3 12 103 South Africa 7–19 Maple Leafs Belgium 27–12 Tabusoro Angels Inter Maple Leafs 41–0 Belgium Tabusoro Angels Inter 0–28 South Africa Belgium 0–40 South Africa Tabusoro Angels Inter 0–48 Maple Leafs Group B Nation Won Drawn Lost For Against France Development 3 0 0 137 7 Wales 2 0 1 67 48 West Coast Vikings 0 1 2 10 77 Tuks 0 1 2 20 102 Wales 33–10 Tuks France Development 40–0 West Coast Vikings Tuks 0–59 France Development West Coast Vikings 0–27 Wales France Development 38–7 Wales West Coast Vikings 10–10 Tuks Bowl semi-finals (9th-12th) West Coast Vikings 10–7 Tabusoro Angels Inter Kenya 19–12 Tuks Bowl final: 9th/10th Match Kenya 12–10 West Coast Vikings

Group C Nation Won Drawn Lost For Against GB Select 3 0 0 109 17 Tokyo Phoenix 2 0 1 46 83 Colombia 1 0 2 37 53 Kenya 0 0 3 36 75 GB Select 33–10 Tokyo Phoenix Colombia 15–5 Kenya Tokyo Phoenix 17–12 Colombia Kenya 7–31 GB Select Colombia 10–31 GB Select Kenya 24–29 Tokyo Phoenix Cup Quarter Finals (1st-8th) France Development 38–0 Belgium Wales 5–12 South Africa GB Select 31–5 Tokyo Phoenix Colombia 15–26 Maple Leafs Plate Semi Finals (1st-4th) Belgium 0–21 Wales Tokyo Phoenix 7–14 Colombia 7th/8th place Belgium 17–5 Tokyo Phoenix Plate Final: 5th/6th place Wales 31–5 Colombia Cup Semi Finals (1st-4th) France Development 17–7 South Africa GB Select 24–17 Maple Leafs 3rd/4th place South Africa 26–19 Maple Leafs Cup Final: 1st/2nd place France Development 5–31 GB Select

See also

• Dubai Sevens

References

1. "Women's Sevens heaven". 22 November 1994.
2. Post Magazine (15 August 2017). "Her mum played in Hong Kong's first women's touring side and now Kelsie Bouttle is creating her own rugby history at the World Cup". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
3. "Emirates unveils Dubai venue 'The Sevens'". International Rugby Board. 2 July 2008. Archived from the original on 31 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
4. "IRB announces Women's Sevens World Series" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 4 October 2012. Archived from the original on 19 October 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
5. "Womens World Series I – Dubai". Rugby7.com. 2012.
6. "Womens World Series II – Dubai". Rugby7.com. 2013.
7. "Womens World Series III – Dubai". Rugby7.com. 2014.
8. "Womens World Series IV – Dubai". Rugby7.com. 2015.
9. "Womens World Series V – Dubai". Rugby7.com. 2016.
10. "Womens World Series VI – Dubai". Rugby7.com. 2017.
11. "Plans revised for HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2021". World Rugby. 29 July 2020. Archived from the original on 29 July 2020.
12. This would appear to be effectively the Kazakhstan national team
13. "First IRB Women's Sevens event announced" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 14 September 2011. Archived from the original on 25 September 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2011.