Seedings Announced As Rugby World Cup Sevens Marks 100 Days To Go

The tournament, which features the world’s top Men’s and Women’s Sevens teams, will be played over three exhilarating days in the iconic AT&T Park in San Francisco’s Bay Area on July 20-22

Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 has captured the imagination in the host city, across the USA and around the world with strong ticket sales as fans look to make their mark by attending a tournament of firsts.

San Francisco 2018 is the first Rugby World Cup tournament of any description in the USA, the first major international rugby event to be played in a Baseball stadium, and the first Sevens event to feature a new, innovative format that will ensure every match counts if teams are to win a medal.

With the seedings for the 24-team Men’s and 16-team Women’s competitions now finalised, World Rugby expects to announce the match schedule shortly, enabling fans to start to plan their tournament experience.

In the men’s competition, the top 14 seeds are ranked according to the points accrued on the 2016/17 HSBC World Sevens Series and first seven rounds of 2018 in Dubai, Cape Town, Sydney, Hamilton, Las Vegas, Vancouver and Hong Kong. The remaining 10 teams, including Ireland, are ranked according to their placing in last weekend’s World Series qualifier in Hong Kong, with Tonga seeded 24th having not taken part in that event.

Coached by Anthony Eddy and Stan McDowell, the Ireland Men’s team have been seeded 16th and the Women’s side are seeded ninth. Captain Billy Dardis and his team-mates will be aiming to bounce back from the heartbreak of their semi final defeat in the World Series qualifier in Hong Kong last weekend.

For the Women’s RWC Sevens tournament, the top 10 seeds, including Ireland, are ranked according to points accrued on the 2016/17 series and first two rounds of 2018 in Dubai and Sydney, with Japan seeded 11 by virtue of their place as a core team on the 2018 series. The five remaining teams are ranked by their placing in the World Series qualifier in Hong Kong, won by China.

The Ireland Women, led by Lucy Mulhall, are currently eighth in the 2017/18 World Series standings and will face China, Spain and Australia in the third leg of the series in Kitakyushu, Japan next week.

You can follow the two Irish teams on the road to San Francisco in our exclusive video diary series.

Ticket sales for the Rugby World Cup Sevens have already surpassed 60,000 and fans can either purchase three-day passes (there is also a ticket exchange mechanism) or via the official domestic and international supporter tour programmes. Further information is available via https://www.rwcsevens.com/tickets.