Gold Coast Sevens pools

New Zealand draw South Africa in Gold Coast Sevens pool

The pools and match schedule for Round One of the HSBC Sevens World Series 2012/13 - the Gold Coast Sevens.

For the second year running the tournament will be staged at Skilled Park on the Gold Coast, where hosts Australia have been drawn to face defending champions Fiji on October 13.

The Australians will be attempting to win a home Sevens title for the first time since 2002, when they won in Brisbane.

Defending Sevens World Series champions New Zealand were placed top of Pool A and will face South Africa and both North American teams in the draw, USA and Canada.

Last season's runners-up Fiji are top of Pool B and face matches against tournament hosts Australia as well as Scotland and Oceania's regional qualifier, Tonga.

England head Pool C and face three tough matches against 2009/10 World Series champions Samoa, Spain and Kenya, who are now under the guidance of former England coach, Mike Friday.

Argentina were drawn top of Pool D and will face matches against three European sides in Wales, France and Portugal.

In addition to the draw for the first of the nine rounds, the IRB has also announced a change to the pool draw allocation process for each of the nine rounds.

From the start of the new season, the winner of the 3rd/4th 'bronze medal' match at each round of the Series will be placed top of Pool C for the subsequent round.

Previously, the only teams to gain automatic placing into pools for the next event were the Cup winner (top of Pool A) and Cup runners-up (top of Pool B).

The full details of the bands for the pool draw are as follows:

- The Cup winners, runners-up and 3rd-placed team will be placed top of Pools A, B and C respectively.
- Teams placed 4th to 8th will be drawn into Band 2, with the first drawn team allocated top of Pool D.
- Teams placed 9th to 12th will be drawn into Band 3.
- Teams placed 13th, 14th, 15th, together with the one invitational team, will be drawn into Band 4.

For Round One of the HSBC Sevens World Series 2012/13, the Gold Coast Sevens teams were placed and banded based on the final standings of the 2011/2012 Series. Tonga, as the 16th team based on their performance at the recent Oceania Sevens, will be placed into Band 4.