World Series adjusted for Olympic structure

The men's and women's World  Sevens Series will feature gold, silver and bronze medals for the first time from the 2016-17 season. In a move that will align the annual series with the Olympic Games, World Rugby has also announced a restructuring of the final competition day.For the women's competition, the changes are in practice somewhat minor with the traditional Cup, Plate, and Bowl winners format will be replaced by two competitions. As in previous years, the top two teams in each pool and the best two third place teams will progress to the Cup competition and the chance to win a gold medal, while lower ranked teams will contest a new Challenge Trophy competition, which replaces the old Bowl.The main difference seems to be that there will be no "plate competition". Instead it appears that the quarter-final losers will simply compete for ranking places.The restructure means that each series event will climax with the 11th-place positional play-off, followed by the Challenge Trophy (ninth place), the seventh and fifth place play-offs, a bronze medal match and then the gold medal match (Cup winners). The number of matches the teams play across each event remains the same, as does the points distribution.World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont said: "Rugby sevens continues to go from strength to strength after a hugely successful Olympic Games debut and we are very much looking forward to what promises to be a very exciting and competitive men's and women's series."This is the first season within the Tokyo 2020 cycle and therefore the timing of these adjustments makes sense. They are designed to enhance fan understanding of the schedule and format, while providing teams with the opportunity to win a medal, as is fitting with an Olympic sport.”With series anticipation and interest on a high after what was widely regarded as a hugely successful Olympic Games debut, the men's and women's series kick off in Dubai on 1 December.