The 2011–12 IRB Sevens World Series, known for sponsorship reasons as the HSBC Sevens World Series, was the 13th annual series of the IRB Sevens World Series tournaments for full national sides run by the International Rugby Board since 1999–2000. Sevens is traditionally played in a two-day tournament format. However, the most famous event, the Hong Kong Sevens, was played over three days, largely because it involves 24 teams instead of the normal 16. In addition, the USA Sevens were a three-day affair this season despite being a standard 16-team event.
Itinerary
The IRB announced the schedule for the 2011–12 series on 18 August 2011. The most important development was the addition of a leg in Japan, expanding the circuit to nine legs. Two other significant scheduling changes were made. The Australian leg, which had previously followed the Hong Kong Sevens, was now the first event in the series. Also, the last two legs of the series, originally slated for Edinburgh and London, switched places on the schedule, making the London leg the last in the series. On 13 April 2011, the Australian and South African unions both announced that their countries' legs of the series would move to new sites effective with this season. The ARU announced that its leg would move from Adelaide to the Gold Coast. Initially, the event was called the "International Rugby Sevens Gold Coast", but was later rebranded as simply the "Gold Coast Sevens". The SARU announced that Port Elizabeth would become the new host of the South Africa leg, replacing George. On 9 December 2011, the IRB and the Scottish Rugby Union announced that the Scotland Sevens, also previously known as the Edinburgh Sevens, would move to Glasgow effective with the 2012 edition.
Women's sevens
The 2011 Dubai Sevens saw the IRB organise its first officially sanctioned women's international sevens tournament apart from the Rugby World Cup Sevens. It involved eight teams—Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, South Africa, Spain, and the USA—and the semifinals and final were held on the main pitch at The Sevens. This was part of a plan to launch a full IRB International Women's Sevens Series for 2012–13.
Core teams
Before each season, the IRB announces the 12 "core teams" that received guaranteed berths in each event of that season's series. The core teams for 2011–12 were: The core teams have been unchanged since the 2008–09 series.
Points schedule
The season championship was determined by points earned in each tournament. A new points system, in which each participating team now receives Series points, was introduced shortly before the 2011–12 season kicked off: ;16-team events
Cup winner : 22 points
Cup runner-up : 19 points
Cup third-place play-off winner : 17 points
Cup third-place play-off loser : 15 points
Plate winner : 13 points
Plate runner-up : 12 points
Losing Plate semi-finalists : 10 points
Bowl winner : 8 points
Bowl runner-up : 7 points
Losing Bowl semi-finalists : 5 points
Shield winner : 3 points
Shield runner-up : 2 points
Losing Shield semi-finalists : 1 point
;24-team event
To be announced
Tournament structure
In all tournaments except Hong Kong, 16 teams participated. Due to its place as the sport's most prestigious annual event, the Hong Kong tournament had 24 teams. In each 16-team tournament, the teams were divided into pools of four teams, who played a round-robin within the pool. Points were awarded in each pool on a different schedule from most rugby tournaments—3 for a win, 2 for a draw, 1 for a loss. In case of a tie on competition points, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
Head-to-head result
Difference in points scored in all pool matches
Difference in tries scored in all pool matches
Total points scored in all pool matches
Total tries scored in all pool matches
Coin toss
A tie between more than two teams is resolved in the same manner, but without considering head-to-head results. Four trophies were awarded in each tournament. In descending order of prestige, they were the Cup, Plate, Bowl and Shield. Each trophy was awarded at the end of a knockout tournament. In a 16-team tournament, the top two teams in each pool advanced to the Cup competition. The four quarterfinal losers dropped into the bracket for the Plate. The Bowl was contested by the third- and fourth-place finishers in each pool, with the losers in the Bowl quarterfinals dropping into the bracket for the Shield. The Hong Kong Sevens used a similar structure, though adjusted for the larger number of teams involved. Its 24 teams were divided into six pools of four teams each, with the competition points system and tiebreakers identical to those for a 16-team event. The six pool winners and the two top second-place finishers advanced to the Cup competition.
The Plate competition was contested by the losing quarterfinalists from the Cup, as in all other events in the series.
The Bowl was contested by the four remaining second-place finishers and the top four third-place finishers.
The Shield was contested by the remaining eight entrants.
