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The teams all knew that a top-four finish in the men’s and women’s series would secure them an automatic place at the 12-team event next August alongside host nation Brazil. For the rest, a series of regional qualifiers would determine their fate.In the men’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, Fiji and South Africa became the first to qualify by reaching the Cup quarter-finals in Glasgow in early May and were joined by New Zealand a day later. 50 WORLD RUGBY YEAR IN REVIEW 2015ABOVEJapan’s women rejoice after securing their passage to RioThe prize of Olympic qualification added a new buzz to the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in 2014-15 with the dream of Rio 2016 now firmly in the teams’ sights.This trio won seven of the nine rounds and it was Tokyo winner England who claimed the fourth place for Team GB after a strong finish to the series, finishing 12 points ahead of Australia in the final standings. In the women’s series, New Zealand won the first four events and wrapped up qualification in London, despite seeing a 37-match unbeaten run ended by Spain. Canada and Australia, the others to win tournaments in 2014-15, joined them on the plane to Rio by reaching the Cup quarter-finals a week later in Amsterdam. The final place went down to the last minute of a winner-takes-all third place play-off between England and USA. England won 15-14 to secure qualification for Team GB, albeit only on point differential after both sides finished the season with 76 points. Fittingly it was South America who provided the first regional qualifiers back in June when THE ROAD TO RIO 2016WORLD IN UNION | ROAD TO RIO