The 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament will be hosted in San Francisco, from July 20-22, and as such it is the biggest rugby event staged in the U.S. The competition features the top 24 men's and 16 women's teams in the world playing for the first time in a straight-up knockout format, whereby the eventual champions will have to win every match in order to lift the Melrose Cup. Previous editions had featured pool play before a knockout stage. The tournament will be played at AT&T Park, where the San Francisco Giants play their Major League Baseball games. Rugby World Cup Sevens TeamsMen's TournamentWho's playing? Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, England, Fiji, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Samoa, Scotland, South Africa, Tonga, Uganda, Uruguay, USA, Wales, Zimbabwe. How did the teams qualify? Nine teams qualified automatically -- the host nation plus the eight quarterfinalists at the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens. The top four teams from the 2016-17 Sevens World Sevens Series that had not qualified automatically then claimed a berth. The remaining 11 teams qualified through continental tournaments --- two from each of Africa, South America, Asia, Europe and Oceania plus one from North America. How were the seedings decided? The qualifiers were seeded based on their rankings from the 2018 Hong Kong Sevens qualifier. Women's TournamentWho's playing? Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, Fiji, France, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Russia, South Africa, Spain, USA. How did the teams qualify? Four teams qualified automatically by reaching the semifinals at the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens. The top four teams from the 2016-17 Women's World Sevens Series that had not qualified automatically then claimed a berth. The remaining eight places were filled via continental qualifiers. How were the seedings decided? The 10 core teams of the 2016-17 and 2017-18 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series were seeded according to their accumulated scores from the former series alongside the 2017 Dubai Women's Sevens and 2018 Sydney Women's Sevens. Through becoming a 2017-18 core team, Japan were seeded No. 11. The remaining seeds were be determined by the teams' ranking performance in the 2018 Hong Kong Women's Sevens. Rugby Sevens World Cup FixturesThe tournament will feature 84 matches played across both the men's and women's competitions. The top eight men's teams according to rankings accumulated through the 2016-17 World Sevens Series and the first seven rounds of the 2017-18 series -- namely South Africa‚ Fiji‚ New Zealand‚ England‚ United States‚ Australia‚ Argentina, Scotland -- qualified directly for the Championship Cup. Teams ranked No. 9-24 commence the men's competition in the Pre-round of 16. The Rugby Sevens World Cup Women's Tournament features all 16 teams in the opening round of matches. Rugby Sevens World Cup ScheduleFriday, July 20Women's Championship Cup Round of 16: winners proceed to the Championship Cup quarterfinals, losers to the Challenge quarterfinals Men's Championship Cup pre-round of 16: winners proceed to the Championship Cup Round of 16, losers to the Bowl quarterfinals Women's Challenge quarterfinals: winners proceed to the Challenge semifinals; losers to 13-16 place games Women's Championship Cup quarterfinals: winners proceed to Championship Cup semifinals, losers to 5-8 place games Men's Championship Cup Round of 16: winners proceed to the Championship Cup quarterfinals, losers to the Challenge quarterfinals Saturday July 21Women's Challenge semifinals: winners proceed to Challenge final, losers to 11-12 place game Women's Championship Cup semifinals: winners proceed to Championship Cup Final, losers to Bronze Final Men's Bowl quarterfinals: winners proceed to Bowl semifinals; losers to 21-24 place games Men's Challenge quarterfinals: winners proceed to Challenge semifinals, losers to 13-16 place games Men's Championship Cup quarterfinals: winners proceed to Championship Cup semifinals, losers to 5-8 place games Women's 11th-16th place games Women's Challenge Final (9-10 place) Women's 5th-8th place games Women's Bronze Final Women's Championship Cup Final Sunday, July 22Men's Bowl semifinals: winners proceed to final, losers to 19-20 place games Men's Challenge semifinals: winners proceed to Challenge Final, losers to 11-12 place game Men's Championship Cup semifinals: winners proceed to Championship Cup Final, losers to Bronze Final Men's 19th-24th place games Men's Bowl Final (17-18 place) Men's 11th-16th place games Men's Challenge Final (9-10 place) Men's 5th-8th place games Men's Bronze Final Men's Championship Cup Final Rugby Sevens World Cup HistoryMen's Tournament 1993 - Edinburgh, Scotland Champions: England Runners-up: Australia Losing semifinalists: Fiji, Ireland 1997 - Hong Kong Champions: Fiji Runners-up: South Africa Losing semifinalists: New Zealand, Samoa 2001 - Mar del Plata, Argentina Champions: New Zealand Runners-up: Australia Losing semifinalists: Argentina, Fiji 2005 - Hong Kong Champions: Fiji Runners-up: New Zealand Losing semifinalists: Australia, England 2009 - Dubai, United Arab Emirates Champions: Wales Runners-up: Argentina Losing semifinalists: Kenya, Samoa 2013 - Moscow, Russia Champions: New Zealand Runners-up: England Losing semifinalists: Fiji, Kenya Rugby World Cup Sevens Women's Tournament 2009 - Dubai, United Arab Emirates Champions: Australia Runners-up: New Zealand Losing semifinalists: United States, South Africa 2013 - Moscow, Russia Champions: New Zealand Runners-up: Canada Losing semifinalists: United States, Spain
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