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 Teams
Men's Tournament
Who'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 Tournament
Who'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 Fixtures
The 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 Schedule
Friday, July 20
Women'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 21
Women'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 22
Men'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 History
Men'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