Preview: Men’s Dubai Sevens

The Men’s World Rugby Sevens Series gets underway in Dubai on Friday and South Africa will be hoping to defend the title which they won in 2018.

South Africa, who are also the 2017/18 World Rugby Sevens Series champions, have been drawn in Pool A alongside Samoa, Argentina and invitational side Zimbabwe.

Pool B sees Fiji face Scotland, France and Kenya, while New Zealand take on USA, Spain and Wales in Pool C.

Pool D features England, Australia, Canada and new core team Japan.

New Zealand captain Scott Curry said: “It’s always an exciting time being in Dubai, about to start a new world series.

“You can see all the teams are pretty keen to get out there and start playing some rugby. It’s definitely an exciting time.

“This year is about qualifying for the Olympics, it’s a massive year for all the teams. You can’t start slow on the world series.

“To win a world series is all about consistency, so to start here well will lead us off well to hopefully go and win a world series.”

Dubai again hosts both the Men’s and Women’s tournaments with the Women’s event being the second leg of their World Series, following on from the opening round in Glendale, Colorado, last month.

The women’s competition kicks off day one (29 November) with the Pool C match between Canada and France in a repeat of the bronze final at the USA Women’s Sevens last month where Canada triumphed 28-0. Spain and Fiji are the other teams in the pool.

In Pool B, defending Dubai champions Australia, one of only two teams to have won the women’s title in Dubai, are set to take on England, USA and new core team China.

Series leaders New Zealand will face Ireland, Russia and invitational side Kenya in Pool A.

Speaking at the captains’ launch, Australia captain Sharni Williams said: “We have come in with some pretty high spirits. Off the back of Colorado, we needed to look at ourselves in the mirror and think about what we need to improve on and achieve at this tournament.

“It’s a tournament that gets us up no matter what. We have been here a number of times and we have been pretty successful here, we want to keep that rolling, we’ve got a lot of pride on the line.”

Dubai Men’s Sevens Pools

Pool A: South Africa, Samoa, Argentina, Zimbabwe
Pool B: Fiji, Scotland, France, Kenya
Pool C: New Zealand, USA, Spain, Wales
Pool D: England, Australia, Canada, Japan

With thanks to World Rugby