Australia
We begin the list with the team who are the reigning World Rugby Sevens Series champions after an incredibly successful 2021-22 series in which they were crowned champions for the first time. It was a brilliant achievement for this team and mainly built through brilliant consistency.
Australia finished in the top three in six tournaments and won the London tournament, leaving them two points above South Africa thanks to the Springboks having a terrible final tournament in Los Angeles. They are an incredibly talented team who are making the most out of some brilliant athletes.
This Australian team has won a few different tournaments, but winning the World Rugby Sevens Series show they were consistently the best team in the world. The London Sevens tournament win was a big moment and helped spur this team on.
What will disappoint Australia is that they don’t have a great record at other tournaments in the past couple of years outside of their excellent Sevens Series championship. They lost to eventual champions Fiji in the World Cup and Australia do not have a great record. But they are still the best team in the world.
They do also boast some of the best players in the world, with Aussies Nick Malouf and Corey Toole both being nominated for World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year.
South Africa
Despite all of their success in 15s rugby, traditionally South Africa have never been great at Sevens. But at the moment they should be considered the second best sevens team in the world after finishing just short of winning the World Rugby Sevens Series for the fifth time.
The Springboks are taking advantage of having some incredible athletes, although some have gone to the 15s game in the last few years. Guys like Kurt-Lee Ardense and Werner Kok have featured for this team over the last few years but have more of a focus on the 15s game.
Siviwe Soyizwapi was the team’s leading try scorer last season and he was crucial in giving his side a chance of the title. Ronald Brown pulls the strings for a team that can score on anyone. They did win some silverware in 2022 however, going undefeated in the Commonwealth Games to win their second medal, eight years after the teams first.
South Africa really underperformed at the Rugby World Cup Sevens, losing in the quarter-finals to Ireland who would end up finishing third. The Springboks struggled to hold the Irish attack despite some excellent defensive performances.
This South Africa team are dangerous, but they have started the 2022-23 World Series poorly. But be prepared for them to bounce back from that poor start. Jerry Tuwai has been excellent and Fiji boast some of
Fiji
There is definitely a lot of evidence to say that Fiji are the best sevens team in the world. But this list is based off of the World Series result from 2021-22 which saw Fiji finish in third. However, this was mainly down to them missing the two tournaments in Spain due to Covid-19 positive tests in their squad.
Outside of those two tournaments they were excellent and finished just four ranking points short of Australia. Fiji won the tournaments in Singapore and Toulouse as well as finishing in second in Vancouver and Los Angeles. They also finished third in London.
They have an incredibly long list of achievements outside of the World Series. They have won the last two Olympic games gold medals as well as winning the Rugby Sevens World Cup. Fiji were the Oceania Sevens champions in 2021 as well. They have been World Sevens Series winners four times, most recently in 2019.
They have won pretty much every tournament on the series. Their squad has featured some incredible athletes in the past and today. Bristol Bears superstar Semi Radradra was part of the 2020 team that won gold at the Olympics. Fiji have some of the best rugby athletes in the history of rugby.
They produce incredibly exciting rugby and it is what has gotten them to various titles. Kaminieli Rasaku is the teams star at the moment having been nominated for World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year in 2022.
Fiji are so fun to watch and one of the best teams in the world.
Argentina
Argentinian rugby as whole is in a really good place at the moment and their sevens rugby team is also looking very good at the moment. They have had some very good performances over the last few years, including finishing in fourth in the World Sevens Series in the 2021-22 season.
It was a great result for an Argentinian squad who has shown a lot of improvement over the last few years. One of those impressive results was a bronze medal in the 2020 Olympic games, with the teams knockout loss coming to Fiji, going on to beat Great Britain in the final.
While they have a very good team, it helps Argentina to have one of the best players in the world. Marcos Moneta was the World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year in 2021, the first Argentinian to win the award. In that 2021-22 World Series they were very good, winning the tournament in Vancouver thanks to a win over Fiji in the final.
They also finished in the top three in four other tournaments. This result may not be a clear indication of where the team is because New Zealand and Samoa were not at the first four tournaments of the series. But Argentina still only finished nine points off the winners of the World Series and that is a very impressive achievement.
Moneta is crucial to this team and Argentina are a very exciting team to watch. Argentina have won the Rugby Sevens South American in 2019 and 2020 and look like a very good team at the moment.
Ireland
Ireland have never been particularly excellent at sevens rugby. Irish sides have always been built on physicality and so have not always produced the fastest or best athletes for sevens rugby. But this Irish team is certainly different.
World Cup semi-finalists Ireland are experiencing one of their best era’s in sevens rugby. They have won a few different competitions over the last few years alongside the teams third place finish in the Rugby World Cup Sevens. They won the Rugby Europe Sevens in 2022.
Ireland have produced some excellent individuals in the last few years. Irish 15s internationals like Robert Baloucoune, Tadhg Beirne and Nick Timoney all began their international careers with the sevens team. Not only that but Ireland boast the World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year.
Terry Kennedy has had a brilliant year and was rewarded with the award. He got this thanks in part to an excellent world cup performance that saw him voted to the Dream Team of the tournament.
James Topping is in charge of this team and he really has them moving in the right direction as well as a lot of quality talent. Ireland also won the International Rugby 7s in 2021. Their performance at the World Cup was the joint best and a great return for an Irish side who had not been good in sevens rugby.
While it seems unlikely that this stellar form will continue, it is exciting to see Irish rugby sevens back near the top and producing some of the worlds best talent.
USA
The USA have always put a huge amount of investment into Sevens Rugby and this has paid off in the past. However, while they have produced a good team, this USA team really revolves around one player.
Perry Baker is one of the most electrifying players in international rugby sevens. He was back to back World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year in 2017 and 2018 and still looks like an exceptional talent today. Outside of Baker, there is a lot of change in this team over the last few years.
The USA has seen Sevens legends Carlin Isles, Madison Hughes and Folau Nina all retire in the past 18 months and it means there is a lot of newcomers to this team. It means that this USA team is not quite as good as previous ones, having finished sixth in the World Series and eleventh in the Rugby World Cup Sevens after a disappointing loss to Samoa in the Round of 16.
This team is going through some change but there is still talent. They finished second in the first Dubai tournament of the 2021-22 season and finished sixth in the Hong Kong tournament to open the 2022-23 season. There is some optimism for the USA coming through this period of change with a new energised team that can once again compete on the top level.
France
French Rugby is certainly at a high point at the moment and their Sevens team is performing well even if it has never been the strength of the team. In 2022, France finished seventh in the World Sevens Series, which is their joint second best result and the first time they have achieved this since 2006.
Not only that but France played well at the World Cup, with their tournament ending due to a loss in the quarter-finals against eventual World Cup fourth placed team Australia who also ended the 2021-22 World Sevens Series as the champions.
They finished third in their home tournament in 2022 and France have begun the 2022-23 tournament with an excellent result, finishing in third in the Hong Kong tournament. France do not have the same star studded quality of previous teams, with Virimi Vakatawa being the only Frenchman to be nominated for World Rugby Player of the tournament all the way back in 2016.
Jean-Pascal Barraque is one of the best players in this current team, but France do not boast the same stars of previous tournaments and Paulin Riva is another brilliant points scoring option. France do still have Nelson Epee who finished the World Sevens Series as the third highest try scorer in the competition.
But there is still some disappointing moments for the France team from the last few years. They failed to qualify for the Olympic games in 2020 after finishing seventh in 2016. France are a good team but likely not able to compete with some of the teams at the top of this list.
New Zealand
It is harsh to put New Zealand this low on the list. New Zealand are one of the best sevens teams in the world and are only on this list this low down because of a terrible 2021-22 World Sevens Series. They finished so low down due to missing the first four tournaments due to travel logistics related to Covid-19.
New Zealand won the Sevens Series in 2020 and have won the series a total of 12 times. Alongside that, New Zealand have been excellent in other tournaments. They won the Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2013 and again in 2018. Over the last couple of years they have come incredibly close to more success.
The team lost in the final of the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens. Not only that, but New Zealand’s 20 year run of making the commonwealth games final ended when they fell to Fiji in the semi-final.
All of this success means that the team has a lot of talent. They are led by the experienced Tim Mikkelson. The 35 year old is by far the most experienced player on this team and is also the teams leading try scorer by a huge amount over second place DJ Forbes.
Scott Curry is another excellent player, having been nominated for World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year award in 2021. This team also features a lot of exciting players but they are lacking some of the talent in the previous years.
Previous New Zealand teams have featured players like Akira and Rieko Ioane as well as Sonny Bill Williams. But this team is still phenomenal and easily one of the best teams in the world, certain to shoot up this list after a full season with little effect from Covid-19.
Samoa
Samoa are the other team who missed the first four tournaments of the 2021-22 season and there ranking on this list is hurt by that. But Samoa are one of the best sevens teams in the world.
In the tournaments that Samoa did play they were consistently near the top. They finished fourth in four straight tournaments and would have certainly been higher had they been able to play in more than the five tournaments that they played in. But Samoa has had some good form in other tournaments.
They finished eighth in the World Cup in 2022, losing in the quarter-final to eventual champions Fiji, which is certainly not a bad result. In fact, Samoa pushed Fiji closer than Australia or New Zealand did in the semi-final or the final. It was down to some incredible performances from Steve Onosai.
He was the tournaments top try scorer. Samoa have always been able to produce good Sevens players. They have had two different player be voted the World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year, but this was back in the 2000s. In fact 2010 was the last time a player from Samoa was even nominated for the award.
The issue for Samoa is that other teams have caught up while they have not really progressed forward. Samoa are still a good team, probably better than a couple teams higher on this list.
But they do not have the same quality of previous teams.
England
England have never really excelled at sevens rugby. Much like Samoa, they also had two World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year winners in the 2000s but have not had a winner since.
Despite this, the England team has come close to greatness in recent years. They were the runners up in the 2018 World Cup as well as finishing third in the Commonwealth Games four years ago. But this team is not that same team.
For one thing, we have seen the end of England’s best ever sevens player, with Dan Norton struggling to carry this side on his own. As one of the fastest players in the world, Norton has the record for the most tries in the World Sevens Series.
This England side however has not won a tournament on the World Series since 2017 and they are going to struggle to replace Norton now that he is retired. This England team however does not look the same anymore. They now compete as Great Britain, having joined with Wales and Scotland for the World Series.
This has brought the team more success in the past and is hopefully one that brings Great Britain success in the future.