Samoa claim the 2009/10 World Sevens Series title © Getty Images

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Teams: Samoa

Sevens is set to continue its rapid expansion in 2011 after the IRB announced the dates for the eight Sevens World Series events.

The 12th season of the Sevens World Series will take in five continents over six months, beginning with the Dubai leg on December 3 and 4. The series will also visit South Africa, USA, Hong Kong, Australia, and England before reaching its climax in Edinburgh on May 28 and 29 2011.

The unveiling of this season's dates came as the IRB confirmed that last year's series drew a record global audience for rugby sevens for the fifth successive year. Television broadcast coverage reached 141 countries across six continents, with 34 broadcasters showing action from the most competitive series to date, won by Samoa for the first time in the competitions' 11-year history.

Last year Sevens was admitted to the Olympic Games, from 2016, while in October a number of the world's best sides will compete for gold at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

"Rugby Sevens continues to prove itself a huge hit with fans, broadcasters and sponsors around the world, attracting new members to the global rugby family and with the ultimate seal of approval given by the IOC last year, the sky is the limit for this exciting sport," said IRB chairman Bernard Lapasset.

"The non-stop, highly competitive action and festival atmosphere continues to be the sport's winning formula, combined with the fact that so many nations can compete side by side and stand a genuine chance of winning. It is also a massive boost for the whole of world Rugby that more people than ever before watched this season as Samoa showed what is possible in Sevens by winning their first World Series."

2010-11 IRB Sevens World Series dates

Dubai - 3-4 Dec 2010 South Africa - 10-11 Dec 2010 New Zealand - 4-5 Feb 2011 USA - 12-13 Feb 2011 Hong Kong - 25-27 Mar 2011 Australia - 2-3 April 2011 England - 21-22 May 2011 Scotland - 28-29 May 2011