2008–09 IRB Sevens World Series

2008–09 IRB Sevens World Series
Host nations	United Arab Emirates  South Africa  New Zealand  United States  Hong Kong  Australia  England  Scotland
Date	28 November 2008 – 31 May 2009
Nations	32
Final positions
Champions	South Africa
Runners-up	Fiji
Third	England
Series details
Top point scorer	Ben Gollings
Top try scorer	Collins Injera
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

The 2008–09 IRB Sevens World Series was the tenth of an annual IRB Sevens World Series of rugby union sevens tournaments for full national sides run by the International Rugby Board since 1999–2000.

South Africa clinched the 2008–09 World Series, its first Series title. The defending series champions New Zealand finished fourth.

Sevens is traditionally played in a two-day tournament format. However, the most famous event, the Hong Kong Sevens, is played over three days, largely because it involves 24 teams instead of the normal 16. Starting in 2008–09, the Australia leg (which involves the normal 16 teams) was spread out over a three-day period.

The series' tournaments are identical to 2007–2008 and span the globe:

The 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens was not a part of the 2008-09 series. Unlike the 2005 edition held in Hong Kong, the 2009 edition did not replace one of the 2008-09 series events. The World Cup was held in Dubai from March 5–7, 2009 and won by Wales.

Prior to the season, the IRB announced the 12 "core teams" that would receive guaranteed berths in each event in the 2008–09 series:

The one new core team was the USA, which replaced its neighbor Canada.

The season championship is determined by points earned in each tournament. For most events, points are awarded on the following schedule:

Points are awarded on a different schedule for the Hong Kong Sevens:

In all tournaments except Hong Kong, 16 teams participate. Due to its place as the sports most prestigious annual event, the Hong Kong tournament as 24 teams. In each tournament, the teams are divided into pools of four teams, who play a round-robin within the pool. Points are awarded in each pool on a different schedule from most rugby tournaments–3 for a win, 2 for a draw, 1 for a loss. The first tiebreaker is the head-to-head result between the tied teams, followed by difference in points scored during the tournament.

Four trophies are awarded in each tournament, except for Hong Kong. In descending order of prestige, they are the Cup, whose winner is the overall tournament champion, Plate, Bowl and Shield. In Hong Kong, the Shield is not awarded. Each trophy is awarded at the end of a knockout tournament.

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