Japan win World University 7s title
Japan have won the FISU World University 7s title, the first tournament to be played since COVID
Published by John Birch, June 12th, 2024
3 minute read
The 2024 FISU World University Championship Rugby Sevens took place in Aix le Provence in France from 10-12 June.
At the end of three action packed days involving 10 women’s teams from five continents it was Japan who claimed the titles .
Japan proved to be the outstanding team in the women’s competition, claiming gold with a convincing 21-12 win against Canada. Spain saw off Australia 36-7 to take the women’s bronze.
South Africa, India, Japan, Spain, Poland, France, Australia, Canada, Mexico and Ireland completed in the women’s line-up.
The tournament is meant to take place every two years but France were the last winners of a standalone event, in South Africa in 2018, where Australia finished second and Belgium third. Rugby Sevens was also played at the Napoli 2019 Summer Universiade where Japan won gold. The 2020 event was cancelled due to COVID and a proposed 2022 tournament was cancelled due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
It is often a major stepping stone for top future international players such as Emily Scarratt, who lead the Great Britain team to the title in 2014, and Romane Menager, who stared for France in 2018
This is not a World Rugby event and teams are selected and entered by national university sports bodies rather than national unions. However FISU have a collaboration agreement with World Rugby to help organise the competition.
Following the successful event organisation the FISU flag was transmitted by the Organising Committee to the representatives of Stellenbosch, South Africa, who will host the next edition in 2026.
Results
Pool A: South Africa 12-24 Spain; Mexico 0-55 Japan; South Africa 24-10 Mexico; Japan 52-0 Poland; Poland 0-50 Spain; Mexico 0-46 Spain; Spain 17-19 Japan; Mexico 17-36 Poland; Japan 24-0 South Africa; South Africa beat Poland
Pool B: Canada 45-7 Ireland; India 7-43 France; Canada 43-0 India; France 22-28 Australia; Australia 31-0 Ireland; India 12-27 Ireland; Canada 33-0 Australia; India 0-36 Australia; France 12-26 Canada; France beat Ireland
Semi-finals: Japan 27-0 Australia; Canada 21-14 Spain
9th place: Mexico 17-22 India
7th place: Poland 0-43 Ireland
5th place South Africa 5-24 France
3rd place Australia 7-36 Spain
Final: Japan 21-12 Canada