# 2012–13 IRB Sevens World Series

The 2012–13 IRB Sevens World Series, known for sponsorship reasons as the HSBC Sevens World Series, was the 14th annual series of rugby sevens tournaments for full national sides. The IRB Sevens World Series has been run by the International Rugby Board since 1999–2000.

## Itinerary

The schedule for the 2012–13 series was released in late June 2012. At the time, the schedule included a new event to be held in La Plata, Argentina. However, on 16 August, the Argentine Rugby Union pulled out of hosting an event in 2012–13, citing demands associated with the country's 2012 entry into The Rugby Championship.
2012–13 Itinerary :
| Leg | Venue | Date | Winner |
| Australia | Skilled Park, Gold Coast | 13–14 October 2012 | Fiji |
| Dubai | The Sevens, Dubai | 30 Nov–1 Dec 2012 | Samoa |
| South Africa | Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth | 8–9 December 2012 | New Zealand |
| New Zealand | Westpac Stadium, Wellington | 1–2 February 2013 | England |
| United States | Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas | 8–10 February 2013 | South Africa |
| Hong Kong | Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong | 22–24 March 2013 | Fiji |
| Japan | Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Tokyo | 30–31 March 2013 | South Africa |
| Scotland | Scotstoun Stadium. Glasgow | 4–5 May 2013 | South Africa |
| England | Twickenham, London | 11–12 May 2013 | New Zealand |

## Core teams

Before each season, the IRB announces the "core teams" that received guaranteed berths in each event of that season's series. This was the first series in which 15 teams received this status, up from 12 in the recent past. All 12 core teams from 2011–12 retained their status, with three more being elevated as top finishers in a 12-team qualifying tournament conducted as part of the 2012 Hong Kong Sevens. The 2012–13 core teams are:
* Argentina
* Australia
* Canada
* England
* Fiji
* France
* Kenya
* New Zealand
* Portugal
* Samoa
* Scotland
* South Africa
* Spain
* United States
* Wales

### Promotion and relegation

For the first time, the IRB instituted a formal promotion and relegation process for core team status in the Sevens World Series, replacing the former ad hoc process. The top 12 core teams in the season table after the next-to-last round of the series in Glasgow retained their status for 2013–14. The remaining three core teams for 2013–14 are being determined in a two-stage qualifying process:
* The first stage was a World Series Pre-Qualifier held as part of the 2013 Hong Kong Sevens. Two qualifiers from each of the IRB's six regions competed. The 12 teams were drawn into three pools, with the top two teams from each pool, plus the top two runners-up, advancing to a quarterfinal round. The winners of the four quarterfinal matches (Russia, Zimbabwe, Tonga, and Georgia) advanced to the second stage.
* The final stage, the World Series Core Team Qualifier, was held as part of the 2013 London Sevens. The pre-qualifiers were joined by Hong Kong, which earned its spot by winning the HSBC Asian Sevens Series, plus the bottom three core teams following the Scotland Sevens. The qualifier was conducted with a pool stage followed by knockout play, with the two finalists and the winner of the third-place match becoming 2013–14 core teams.

## Final standings

The points awarded to teams at each event, as well as the overall season totals, are shown in the table below. Points for the event winners are indicated in bold. A zero (0) is recorded in the event column where a team competed in a tournament but did not gain any points. A dash (–) is recorded in the event column if a team did not compete at a tournament.
2012–13 IRB Sevens – Series XIV :
| Pos. | Event Team | Gold Coast | Dubai | Port Eliza­beth | Well­ing­ton | Las Vegas | Hong Kong | Tokyo | Glas­gow | Lon­don | Points total |
| 1 | New Zealand | 19 | 19 | 22 | 17 | 19 | 17 | 19 | 19 | 22 | 173 |
| 2 | South Africa | 17 | 7 | 17 | 10 | 22 | 5 | 22 | 22 | 10 | 132 |
| 3 | Fiji | 22 | 10 | 12 | 7 | 15 | 22 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 121 |
| 4 | Samoa | 10 | 22 | 7 | 15 | 17 | 13 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 104 |
| 5 | Kenya | 15 | 17 | 5 | 19 | 1 | 15 | 5 | 7 | 15 | 99 |
| 6 | England | 7 | 3 | 5 | 22 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 17 | 17 | 92 |
| 7 | Wales | 5 | 13 | 13 | 3 | 10 | 19 | 5 | 15 | 8 | 91 |
| 8 | Australia | 10 | 1 | 8 | 13 | 3 | 10 | 17 | 8 | 19 | 89 |
| 9 | France | 12 | 15 | 19 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 15 | 3 | 7 | 87 |
| 10 | Argentina | 13 | 8 | 15 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 10 | 84 |
| 11 | United States | 2 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 71 |
| 12 | Canada | 5 | 12 | 1 | 8 | 13 | 12 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 69 |
| 13 | Scotland | 3 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 12 | 1 | 12 | 5 | – | 51 |
| 14 | Portugal | 1 | 10 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 1 | – | 35 |
| 15 | Spain | 8 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | 26 |
| 16 | Hong Kong | – | – | – | – | – | 7 | – | – | – | 7 |
| 17 | Tonga | 1 | – | – | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | 3 |
| 18 | Russia | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | – | 3 |
| 19 | Japan | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | – | – | 2 |
| 20 | Uruguay | – | – | – | – | 2 | – | – | – | – | 2 |
| 21 | Zimbabwe | – | – | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2 |
| 22 | Georgia | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0 |
Source: rugby7.com (archived)
    Legend No colour Core team in 2012–13 and re-qualified for 2013–14 Yellow Invited team Blue bar Re-qualified for 2013–14 via the 2013 London Sevens core team qualifier tournament Red bar Failed to qualify for 2013–14 via 2013 London Sevens core team qualifier tournament

## Player statistics
### Points scored

Points scored :
| Pos. | Player | Points |
| 1 | Dan Norton (ENG) | 264 |
| 2 | Joji Baleviani Raqamate (FIJ) | 247 |
| 3 | Nathan Hirayama (CAN) | 241 |
| 4 | Junior Tomasi Cama (NZL) | 237 |
| 5 | Christian Lewis-Pratt (ENG) | 221 |
| 6 | Cornal Hendricks (RSA) | 190 |
| 7 | Terry Bouhraoua (FRA) | 189 |
| 8 | Lewis Holland (AUS) | 187 |
| 9 | Paul Albaladejo (FRA) | 180 |
| 10 | Sean Duke (CAN) | 175 |

### Tries scored

Tries scored :
| Pos. | Player | Tries |
| 1 | Dan Norton (ENG) | 52 |
| 2 | Cornal Hendricks (RSA) | 38 |
| 3 | Sean Duke (CAN) | 35 |
| 4 | Lewis Holland (AUS) | 29 |
| 5 | Samisoni Viriviri (FIJ) | 29 |
| 6 | Marcus Watson (ENG) | 27 |
| 7 | Tim Mikkelson (NZL) | 26 |
| 8 | Kurt Baker (NZL) | 25 |
| 8 | Julien Candelon (FRA) | 25 |
| 8 | Joji Baleviani Raqamate (FIJ) | 25 |

## Tournaments
### Gold Coast

| Event | Winners | Score | Finalists | Semifinalists |
| Cup | Fiji | 32–14 | New Zealand | Kenya South Africa |
| Plate | Argentina | 14–7 | France | Australia Samoa |
| Bowl | Spain | 19–14 | England | Canada Wales |
| Shield | Scotland | 40–5 | United States | Portugal Tonga |

### Dubai

| Event | Winners | Score | Finalists | Semifinalists |
| Cup | Samoa | 26–15 | New Zealand | France Kenya |
| Plate | Wales | 21–14 | Canada | Fiji Portugal |
| Bowl | Argentina | 14–10 | South Africa | Scotland United States |
| Shield | England | 26–5 | Spain | Australia Russia |

### South Africa

| Event | Winners | Score | Finalists | Semifinalists |
| Cup | New Zealand | 47–12 | France | Argentina South Africa |
| Plate | Wales | 26–14 | Fiji | Portugal United States |
| Bowl | Australia | 26–14 | Samoa | England Kenya |
| Shield | Spain | 33–0 | Zimbabwe | Canada Scotland |

### Wellington

| Event | Winners | Score | Finalists | Semifinalists |
| Cup | England | 24–19 | Kenya | New Zealand Samoa |
| Plate | Australia | 22–7 | Scotland | Argentina South Africa |
| Bowl | Canada | 28–19 | Fiji | France Spain |
| Shield | Wales | 26–21 | Tonga | Portugal United States |

### United States

| Event | Winners | Score | Finalists | Semifinalists |
| Cup | South Africa | 40–21 | New Zealand | Fiji Samoa |
| Plate | Canada | 22–5 | Scotland | United States Wales |
| Bowl | France | 17–12 | Argentina | England Spain |
| Shield | Australia | 41–0 | Uruguay | Kenya Portugal |

### Hong Kong

| Event | Winners | Score | Finalists | Semifinalists |
| Cup | Fiji | 26–19 | Wales | New Zealand Kenya |
| Plate | Samoa | 12–7 | Canada | Australia Portugal |
| Bowl | England | 42–7 | Hong Kong | United States South Africa |
| Shield | France | 19–14 | Argentina | Scotland Spain |
| World Series pre-qualifier | Zimbabwe | 22–19 | Tonga | Russia Georgia |

### Japan

| Event | Winners | Score | Finalists | Semifinalists |
| Cup | South Africa | 24–19 | New Zealand | Australia France |
| Plate | United States | 17–0 | Scotland | Fiji Samoa |
| Bowl | England | 38–0 | Argentina | Kenya Wales |
| Shield | Canada | 27–14 | Japan | Portugal Spain |

### Scotland

| Event | Winners | Score | Finalists | Semifinalists |
| Cup | South Africa | 28–21 | New Zealand | England Wales |
| Plate | United States | 17–7 | Argentina | Canada Fiji |
| Bowl | Australia | 12–5 | Kenya | Samoa Scotland |
| Shield | France | 21–17 | Russia | Portugal Spain |

### London

| Event | Winners | Score | Finalists | Semifinalists |
| Cup | New Zealand | 47–12 | Australia | England Kenya |
| Plate | Fiji | 14–5 | United States | Argentina South Africa |
| Bowl | Wales | 19–7 | France | Canada Samoa |

## Dream Team

The 2012–13 HSBC Sevens World Series 'Dream Team' was selected by the series' regular television broadcast commentators.
* Afa Aiono
* Frankie Horne
* Tim Mikkelson
* Joji Ragamate
* Gilles Kaka
* Willy Ambaka
* Dan Norton