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By common consent this was by far the biggest season of rugby sevens yet and with the Olympic Games on the horizon, a new and improved HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series provided the perfect showcase for the players, teams and match officials on the road to Rio 2016. In the men’s series Cape Town, Sydney, Vancouver, Singapore and Paris all provided fascinating new homes, joining Dubai, Wellington, Las Vegas, Hong Kong and London As an appetiser for the sport’s debut at the Olympic Games, the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2015-16 ticked all the right boxes with a host of shock results and some of the biggest names from 15s thrown into the mix.SEASON OF SURPRISES ENDS WITH FIJIAN SMILESin a ground-breaking new hosting cycle which also heralded the bold re-brand of the series.On the pitch, star names found the lure of the Olympics too tempting to ignore and it was fascinating to see the likes of Sonny Bill Williams, Bryan Habana, Quade Cooper, Henry Speight, Francois Hougaard and Juan de Jongh turn their hand to sevens and, more specifically, to the game’s exacting fitness requirements. Some stayed the course, others fell by the wayside, but throughout ABOVEFiji’s Jasa Veremalua in action at the Sydney SevensRIGHTKenya’s Collins Injera overtook Santiago Gómez Cora as the all-time leading try-scorer in the men’s series2015-16 SERIESDubai (4-5 December, 2015)Champions: FijiRunners-up: EnglandCape Town (12-13 December, 2015)Champions: South Africa Runners-up: ArgentinaWellington (30-31 January, 2016)Champions: New ZealandRunners-up: South AfricaSydney (6-7 February)Champions: New ZealandRunners-up: AustraliaLas Vegas (4-6 March)Champions: FijiRunners-up: AustraliaVancouver (12-13 March)Champions: New Zealand Runners-up: South AfricaHong Kong (8-10 April)Champions: FijiRunners-up: New ZealandSingapore (16-17 April)Champions: KenyaRunners-up: FijiParis (13-15 May)Champions: SamoaRunners-up: FijiLondon (21-22 May)Champions: ScotlandRunners-up: South Africa 120 million social media fans7,495hours of broadcastINSPIRE | SEVENS REVIEW26 WORLD RUGBY YEAR IN REVIEW 2016