The seedings for the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens which takes place from 20th to 22nd July 2018 have now been confirmed by World Rugby.
Shujaa are seeded ninth in the men’s tournament.
The eight quarter-finalists from RWC Sevens 2013 and 2018 hosts USA qualified automatically and were joined by the four highest ranked teams outside of these nations on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2016-17. The remaining 11 teams successfully negotiated the regional qualification process.
The top 14 seeds are ranked according to points accrued on the 2016-17 series and first seven rounds of 2018 in Dubai, Cape Town, Sydney, Hamilton, Las Vegas, Vancouver and Hong Kong.
The remaining 10 teams are ranked according to their placing in last weekend’s World Series qualifier in Hong Kong with Tonga seeded 24th having not taken part in that event.
The innovative tournament format will see an initial knock-out qualifier featuring the nations ranked ninth to 24th, while the top eight seeds progress automatically to the round of 16.
This means that HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series leaders South Africa are top seeds with Olympic champions Fiji seeded second. Defending Rugby World Cup Sevens champions New Zealand are seeded third ahead of the side they beat in that 2013 final, England. Host nation USA, who were victorious in the recent Las Vegas round of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, are the fifth seeds.
RWC SEVENS – MEN’S TOURNAMENT
| TEAM | SEEDINGS |
| South Africa | 1 |
| Fiji | 2 |
| New Zealand | 3 |
| England | 4 |
| United States | 5 |
| Australia | 6 |
| Argentina | 7 |
| Scotland | 8 |
| Kenya | 9 |
| Canada | 10 |
| France | 11 |
| Wales | 12 |
| Samoa | 13 |
| Russia | 14 |
| Japan | 15 |
| Ireland | 16 |
| Chile | 17 |
| Uruguay | 18 |
| Hong Kong | 19 |
| Uganda | 20 |
| Zimbabwe | 21 |
| Jamaica | 22 |
| Papua New Guinea | 23 |
| Tonga | 24 |
