Cape town to host 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens

Sports Reporter
CAPE Town will host the eighth edition of the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens from September 9-11, the first to be held on African soil, World Rugby announced yesterday.

The event will be contested by 24 men’s and 16 women’s teams at the iconic Cape Town Stadium, and sides that haven’t qualified still have a chance in upcoming regional competitions that start in August this year.

The top eight men’s teams and top four women’s teams from the RWC Sevens 2018 in San Francisco, USA, have already secured automatic qualification for the 2022 tournament.

These comprise defending men’s champions New Zealand, England, South Africa, Fiji, Argentina, USA, France and Scotland while the women’s pool has defending champions New Zealand, France, Australia and USA. They will be joined by the South African women’s team as the host nation.

Regional qualifiers will be held in Europe, Oceania, Asia, North America, South America and Africa for the remaining 16 men’s places and 11 women’s places.

This means the Zimbabwe sevens rugby side, the Cheetahs, are still in with a chance to qualify for the tournament in the neighbouring country. The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series will no longer form part of the qualification pathway for RWC Sevens.

World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said: “This is an exciting time for rugby sevens with less than 70 days to go until the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo and now with Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 also on the horizon. South Africa has a rich history in hosting world-class international rugby sevens events, and we anticipate that Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 will once again raise the bar for this unique tournament and be like no other.”

Mark Alexander, president of SA Rugby, said they were eager to turn the vibrancy of this new brand into the vibrancy of a packed live event where they can showcase both South Africa and its passion for the game.

“This will be the first senior World Cup we have hosted since 1995 and we are determined to make it as special in its own way. The HSBC Cape Town Sevens has established itself as a major must-see event on our national sporting calendar, but we will be taking Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 to the next level,” said Alexander.