Sevens Series 2023-24 schedule
Round 1: Dubai, 2-3 December 2023
The season begins in Dubai, meaning that despite Hong Kong being the host of last seasons opener, the series will now begin in Dubai. The first weekend of action will take place The Sevens Stadium in Dubai, taking place on the first weekend of December.
The Dubai Sevens has been targeted for December as this should mean that the conditions are not too warm for the players and they can perform at their best. Last years Dubai Sevens was won by South Africa, so they will be looking to repeat this feat in 2023.
Round 2: South Africa, 9-10 December 2023
The new season begins with a double header as the players will have to make their way from Dubai all the way down to South Africa for the second weekend of Sevens Series rugby. The weekend will be hosted in the Cape Town Stadium which is in Cape Town.
This will be a challenging weekend for the players involved, as December is right in the middle of summer for South Africa. The conditions will be hot and probably quite dry, but it is the right sort of conditions for exciting rugby. Samoa are the reigning champions from last year, while South Africa will hope to win on home soil for the first time since 2015.
Round 3: Australia, 26-28 January 2024
After a six week break over the festive period, the series finally returns on the final weekend of January. This time the Sevens Series will head to Australia but will be going to a new venue. Last years Australian weekend was held in Sydney, while this year the games will take place at the Perth Rectangular Stadium in Perth.
Sydney has been the host of the Australian Sevens tournament for seven years now, returning from the Covid-19 hiatus in 2023. But to start 2024 the series will be going to Perth for the very first time in Sevens Series history.
The Perth Rectangular Stadium is the home of the Western Force in Super Rugby Pacific, as well as the home of Perth Glory FC, a football team competing in the A-League. The stadium has hosted a couple of Wallabies games before and so it is perfect for major rugby. This will be one of the most exciting weekends of the season.
Round 4: Canada, 23-25 February 2024
After another break of almost a month, the tour returns to Canada. This will be the ninth time that the Sevens Series has been to Canada and they will be returning to Vancouver once again. The tournament will be played at BC Place, which has been the host of the Canada Sevens since it’s introduction.
Argentina are the reigning champions, having won the previous two tournaments and will hope to repeat that feat this year. Home side Canada have never made it to the Cup Final before in front of their home fans and will be hoping that 2024 is the year that they can do it for the first time.
Round 5: United States, 2-3 March 2024
We have another double header with Rounds 4 and 5 happening in consecutive weeks. After the Canada tournament, players will make the trip south to Los Angeles for the USA Sevens.
The tournament is one of the most historic on the calendar, having been taking place every year since 2004. Across that time the host city has changed a few times, but we return to Los Angeles for the fourth tournament in a row in 2024. The tournament will be hosted in the Dignity Health Sports Park.
Normally one of the most exciting weekends of the Sevens Series calendar, New Zealand will be looking to make it three wins in a row in 2024, as well as becoming only the second team in USA Sevens history to win the tournament five times, with South Africa being the first. The USA haven’t won their home tournament since 2019, so will be looking to change that very soon
Round 6: Hong Kong, 5-7 April 2024
The Premier event on the Sevens Series calendar has been moved around for the 2023-24 season. Having been the season opener last year, the tournament has gone back to having just one spot on the calendar, reserved for towards the back end of the season. The tournament is the third last on the calendar for the 2023-24 season.
As always, the tournament will be hosted by the Hong Kong Stadium and it will be 42 years since the tournament was first hosted in the stadium. In terms of the most successful teams, Fiji are always dangerous in Hong Kong. Despite winning five in a row prior to the pandemic, they have lost in the final in back-to-back years.
New Zealand are the reigning champions, having edged past Fiji in the final last year. No matter who get’s to the final, the Hong Kong Sevens is going to be one of the best tournaments of the entire season for sure.
Round 7: Singapore, 3-5 May 2024
After a months break, the Sevens Series will be heading to Singapore for the penultimate event of the season. Despite the tournament making it’s debut in 2002, it has struggled to stay on the calendar for very long. So this will be only the third year in a row that we have seen the Singapore tournament.
As with all but one of the Singapore Sevens tournament, it will be hosted in the National Stadium. The tournament has seen quite a few different winners, with New Zealand winning their third Singapore Sevens tournament last year. They will be looking to make it four wins in 2024.
Round 8: Spain, 31 May- 2 June
The 2023-24 Sevens Series concludes in Spain, with the normal London tournament not expected to be on the calendar for the first time in a long time. Instead, Madrid will hold the Grand final where the top eight teams will compete to win the Sevens Series for the 2023-24 season.
Earlier in 2023, it was announced that Madrid would host the Grand Final of the World Rugby Sevens series for at least three years, with the iconic Metropolitano Stadium being the host of the inaugural grand final in June 2024.
The final being held in Madrid was one of the main talking points of the new remodelled Sevens World series. Rugby is on the rise in Spain and World Rugby are looking to expand the sport in what they call Rugby emerging nations. So it is not massively surprising that the final round of the season will be held in Madrid.
World Sevens Series Schedule changes for 2023-24
Having taken a look at the schedule for the 2023-24 Sevens Series season, you might have noticed that there have been quite a few changes. The major one is of course that the schedule has been reduced massively.
Last year there were eleven tournaments across the entire season, while the new 2023-24 season will only feature eight tournaments. This is part of World Rugby’s focus on making the game as a whole safer. By having fewer tournaments in the season, it allows teams to take longer breaks and focus more on recovery.
This should allow the players to play at a higher level for longer, as well as making the game and the series a huge amount safer in the long run. It might be quite a drastic change for World Rugby to make, but it is the sort of decision which is not massively surprising considering World Rugby are trying to make the game safer.
What will also surprise a lot of fans is the changes in which tournaments are on the calendar. The headline news about that is the exclusion of the London Sevens tournament. It was announced that London has not been selected to be in the new season, despite acting as the season finale in 2022-23.
It is a surprising move for a few reasons. For one thing, rugby is incredibly popular in England, so the tournament was always well supported in London. The tournament also usually took place at the home of rugby, Twickenham. So for World Rugby to skip out on the chance to have a tournament at Twickenham is a surprise.
This does not mean the end of the London Sevens, but we will have to wait at least a couple of years until the Sevens Series returns to London. In fact, it is surprising as a whole that there is only one tournament being held in Europe for the 2023-24 season.
World Rugby are trying to expand the game in Europe, so it is surprising that there is only going to be one tournament in Europe in the 2023-24 season.