Rugby Sevens Series: Date, format, fixtures and how to watch

The 2023/24 Rugby Sevens Series is the 25th edition of the annual seven-a-side rugby tournament, which features the game's leading nations.

This year's series has been shortened to eight legs featuring 12 rather than 16 teams and tag-lined 'Chase the Sun' due to the majority of the stops on the tour taking place in the host cities' summer months.

They include this weekend's Grand Final in Madrid, which will act as the final tune-up before the Olympics in Paris.

Rugby Sevens Series dates

The 2023/24 Rugby Sevens Series has been shortened to eight tournaments, with the organisers revamping the format to try to 'supercharge' the game's growth.

Each leg has also followed the same 12-team format that will be used at this summer's Olympics.

Rugby Sevens Series teams

The 12 teams in the 2023/24 Rugby Sevens Series are:

• Argentina
• Australia
• Canada
• Fiji
• France
• Great Britain
• Ireland
• New Zealand
• Samoa
• South Africa
• Spain
• United States

Of these 'core' countries, the United States, Spain, Samoa and Canada will not feature in the Grand Final, instead taking part in a play-off tournament against Uruguay, Kenya, Chile and Germany.

Rugby Sevens Series venues

The 2023/24 Rugby Sevens Series is scheduled to stop in eight venues, with legs in Asia, Africa, Oceania, North America, and Europe.

The series kicked off at the purpose-built The Sevens arena in Dubai before heading to Cape Town Stadium in South Africa and then Perth's Rectangular Stadium in Australia.

The North American legs took place at Vancouver's BC Place and Los Angeles' Dignity Health Sports Park, before two stops in Asia at the Hong Kong Stadium and the National Stadium, Singapore.

The upcoming event at Madrid's Metropolitano Stadium, home of La Liga club Atletico, is the only leg taking place in Europe and is the final tournament of the season.

Rugby Sevens Series how to watch

The Rugby Sevens Series is available to UK viewers on TNT Sports. It can also be streamed on RugbyPass TV.

Rugby Sevens Series format

The number of teams for 2023/24 was reduced from 16 to 12. In each tournament, that dozen compete over three pools of four, with the top eight going to the knockout rounds, while the bottom four play off in their own competition.

The winner of each leg receives 20 points, runners-up 18, third place 16 and so on and the points are collated. The top eight in the standings after the first seven legs compete in the Grand Final.

Rugby Sevens Series schedule

Leg	Date	Venue	Men’s Winner
1 - Dubai	2nd-3rd December	The Sevens	South Africa
2 - South Africa	9th-10th December	Cape Town Stadium	Argentina
3 - Australia	26th-28th January	Perth Rectangular Stadium	Argentina
4 - Canada	23rd-25th February	BC Place, Vancouver	Argentina
5 - USA	1st-3rd March	Dignity Health Sports Park, Los Angeles	France
6 - Hong Kong	5th-7th April	Hong Kong Stadium	New Zealand
7 - Singapore	3rd May - 5th May	National Stadium, Singapore	New Zealand
8 - Spain	31st May - 2nd June	Metropolitano Stadium, Madrid	TBC