Rugby sevens at the 2009 World Games

World Games 2009 Rugby sevens
Host	Kaohsiung
Dates	July 24–25, 2009
Teams	8
Podium
Champions	Fiji
Runners-up	Portugal
Third place	South Africa
Fourth place	Argentina

Rugby union, specifically in the sevens format, was introduced as a World Games sport for men at the 2001 World Games in Akita. Fiji entered the 2009 games as the two time defending gold medalists. Held on July 24 and 25 of 2009 in Taiwan, Fiji clinched gold for the 3rd time in front of a crowd of 39,000. The Fijian win preserves Fiji as the only nation to ever capture gold at the games.^[1] Represented were South Africa (the reigning IRB Sevens World Series Champions), Portugal (the reigning European Sevens Champions), Argentina (the reigning USA Sevens Champions), Fiji (the reigning World Games gold medalists), and Chinese Taipei (the host nation). The USA was the biggest disappointment of Day 1 going 0–3 having been expected to compete for a medal. The biggest surprise of the event was Portugal finding their way into the gold-medal match and coming away with the Silver Medal.

Teams

8 Teams took part in this tournament:

•  Argentina
•  Fiji
•  Hong Kong
•  Japan
•  Portugal
•  South Africa
• Chinese Taipei
•  United States

Pools^[2]

Pool A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	+/-
South Africa	3	3	0	0	62	12	50
Portugal	3	2	0	1	46	19	27
Chinese Taipei	3	1	0	2	27	65	−38
United States	3	0	0	3	31	70	−39

Pool B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	+/-
Argentina	3	3	0	0	63	12	51
Fiji	3	2	0	1	52	37	15
Japan	3	1	0	2	35	39	−4
Hong Kong	3	0	0	3	15	77	−62

Fixtures^[3]

Day 1

Day 2

Quarter-finals

• Argentina 19–12 USA
• Portugal 17–0 Japan
• Fiji 28–5 Chinese Taipei
• South Africa 39–0 Hong Kong

Semifinals

Losers Bracket

• Chinese Taipei 17–12 Hong Kong
• USA 29–24 Japan

Medals Bracket

• Portugal 19–12 Argentina
• Fiji 21–7 South Africa

Finals

7th-place match

• Japan 20–5 Hong Kong

5th-place match

• USA 21–19 Chinese Taipei

Bronze-medal match

• South Africa 17–0 Argentina

Gold-medal match

• Fiji 43–10 Portugal

References