New Zealand’s national sevens teams have already qualified for the Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco in 2018.
Both the men’s and women’s sides are defending world champions, having won the previous world cup titles in Moscow in 2013.
Previous quarter-finalists and semi-finalists are automatic qualifiers for the men’s and women’s tournaments respectively.
The men’s tournament will see 24 teams compete, while the women’s is a 16 team tournament. Both tournaments will be played at San Francisco’s AT&T Park on the city waterfront.
Joining the men’s team will be England, Fiji, South Africa, Wales, Australia, Kenya and France, while the United States also qualify as hosts. The top four nations in the upcoming World Rugby Sevens Series, not including those already qualified, will also earn a spot in the tournament. The final 11 places will go to Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, Oceania (2 each) and North America (1).
New Zealand are joined by Canada, Spain and the United States as early qualifiers for the women’s world cup, and again will be joined by the next four highest finishers in the coming world series.
