Seven things we learned from the HSBC London Sevens - HSBC Rugby World Sevens Series (2023)

Sunday, excitingHSBC Rugby World Sevens Series 2023The match ended in Twickenham with big victories for Argentina, Australia and Canada.

Los Angeles Sevens are coming off their most successful season despite beating New Zealand by 21 points for the overall series titleHe won a third gold medal in 2023.

Canada had previously secured its place in the squad by beating Kenya in the 2024 World Rugby Sevens play-offs. Meanwhile, Australia finished fifth in the standings, confirming their qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

As the dust settles on an exciting event and thoughts turn to a revamped series for 2024, we take a look back at seven things we've learned from the HSBC London Sevens.

Viewers already get a taste of what to expect in 2024

Fans watching this weekend in London, either at home or amongst the Harvest Carnival crowd at Twickenham, will get a taste of what the revamped 2024 series will look like.

The reduction in the number of participating teams from 16 to 12 means that their pursuit of victory is far from over.

Olympic gold medalists Argentina put in an incredible effort to win the tournament, losing to Ireland in the group stage and narrowly beating Samoa in the cup semi-finals.

Los Pumas Sevens overcame these challenges and defeated Fiji for the second time in two days in the final, taking advantage of the numerical advantage of Josese Batirerega's red card to win 35-14.

It's an exciting way to wrap up the 2023 series and usher in an exciting 2024 season, when the players are, of course, well deserved.

Moneta and Isgro had fun in Twickenham

Argentina has never won more than one gold medal in a season, so a third gold medal at the 2023 HSBC London Sevens somehow proved to be the team's most successful streak.

Marcos Moneta and Rodrigo Isgro will be holidaying together in the coming weeks to celebrate the success and of course deserved a break to lead Los Pumas Sevens to victory at Twickenham.

It wasn't just the four touchdowns they each scored in London or the two in their win over Fiji in the Cup Final that saw them eliminated this weekend.

Moneta now has a 100-game hitting streak in just 20 games, and Isgro enjoys an almost telepathic understanding of the field, making it nearly impossible to guard them when they get to work.

"We are very close because we are friends," HSBC finalist Isgro said on Sunday. "We shared the same room and spent a lot of time together on and off the team."

They hope that this friendship will propel Argentina to new heights in 2024.

Canada supports 'where we need to be'

Canada captain Phil Berner insisted before the weekend that his team's fourth-place finish in Toulouse was "part of the top" as they prepare for the playoffs in London.

However, he must have been concerned that they had lost that form in France after Saturday's 24-19 defeat to Kenya.

However, wins over Uruguay - who are 15 points behind them in the 2023 series standings - and Tonga will be enough to secure a place in the play-off tiebreaker.

After an early try from Nelson Oyoo in that match, Canada responded through Josiah Morra and Alex Russell to cement their starting position by a narrow margin and win 12-7, much to Shujaa's chagrin.

"It feels great, I feel like this is where we should be," Berner said after the win.

Australia just does the job

Australia captain Nick Maloof was candid when he described his side's game at Twickenham on Sunday as "one of the greatest rollercoasters of all time".

Despite a nine-point lead heading into the HSBC London Sevens in the fourth and final Paris 2024 Olympic ticket to be offered in the series, their fate seemed to have been taken out of their hands at one point on day two.

If Samoa can beat Argentina and secure a place in the cup final, they, not Australia, will celebrate progress.

However, Los Pumas Sevens rallied to win their semi-final, allowing Australia to book a trip to Paris with a 34–5 win over Great Britain in the seventh-place play-offs.

In the final standings, Malouf and his teammates were only one point away from Samoa.

Come to Apelu Maliko on het

Samoa won their first bronze medal in nearly 10 years and is one step closer to qualifying for the Olympics, boosted again by the efforts of Vaa Apelu Maliko.

Co-captain Apelu Maliko scored an impressive 11 tries in two days at Twickenham, including four in the group win against Spain.

In the semi-cup against Argentina, his shot kept his team ahead from the third to the twelfth minute.

Samoa and Apelo Maliko failed to find the second try that should have brought victory, but continued their spellbinding bronze medal final against New Zealand in the final match of the tournament.

His performance in London saw Apelos overtake Malikos Moneta as the series' top scorer in 2023 with 50. He also ended his campaign on the DHL Impact Player list for men, underlining his status as one of the stars of the game.

There are many positives for the UK

It was a disappointing Sunday for England, who finished eighth after three defeats in London.

However, these results should not detract from the team's encouraging second half of the season at the start of the series.

England have reached the quarter-finals of the Cup seven times in a row since Sydney in January, and while they've only reached the semi-finals once in this competition, there's more to come in Vancouver as they prepare for their second season. many things to do united team

If they had not finished outside eight in three of the first four games of 2023, they could have qualified for the Olympics.

America has work to do

While the British team started to perform well, the form of many other teams also collapsed.

Both South Africa and Ireland saw their Olympic qualification hopes crumble in the final weeks of the season, but it was the United States' results that suffered the most.

The Men's Sevens Eagles started the 2023 series strongly with bronze medals in Cape Town and Hamilton.

However, a mid-season slump left them just eight points ahead of Sydney and Los Angeles, while they finished the season with seven points from three games in Singapore, Toulouse and London.

Their 2023 streak ended on Sunday with a 47-5 playoff loss for ninth place. Their performance in London dropped the USA to 10th, their worst since 13th in 2014, and this clearly talented team has a lot of work ahead of them next season.