Women’s Sevens World Series coming to Cape Town

After four wildly successful years as South African host of the men’s leg of the HSBC World Sevens Series‚ Cape Town will also host a women’s tournament this year.

That was the official word from SA Rugby and World Rugby on Wednesday‚ bringing Cape Town in line with several other tournaments on the World Series calendar that host male and female competitions simultaneously.

World Rugby announced a new look men’s and women’s World Rugby Sevens Series for 2019 to 2023 on Wednesday‚ confirming there would be six combined men’s and women’s rounds.

The much anticipated – and highly successful – Cape Town Sevens will be one of the dual tournaments alongside Dubai‚ Hamilton‚ Sydney‚ Hong Kong and Paris.

SA Rugby CEO‚ Jurie Roux‚ welcomed the decision taken by World Rugby. “This is a wonderful addition to the already very successful Cape Town Sevens and a massive boost for women’s rugby in South Africa‚” said Roux.

“We are constantly looking at ways of improving the fan experience and I know many of our loyal supporters will be pleasantly surprised when they see the levels of skill and commitment shown by the women.

“Apart from that‚ it will create another opportunity for Paul Delport and the Springbok Women’s Sevens team to play together in a tough tournament‚ but also to play in front of their family and friends‚ something that doesn’t happen often.”

Zintle Mpupha‚ Springbok Women’s Sevens captain‚ said: “We’ve all dreamed about playing at home one day‚ so this is really a dream come true for us. We can’t wait to play in front of our own people in Cape Town.”

The dates for the 2019/20 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series will be confirmed in due course by World Rugby‚ after which SA Rugby will announce ticket details for the revamped HSBC Cape Town Sevens.

World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said: “This is an exciting time for sevens as the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series is set to break new ground with more combined rounds than ever before on the circuit‚ as Cape Town‚ Hamilton and Hong Kong welcome women’s world series teams for the first time from next season.

“We are delighted to see the women’s series expand to eight rounds over the next four-year cycle‚ a historic move that will provide more high quality competitive international playing opportunities for women’s sevens teams‚ a core strand of our Accelerating the Global Development of Women in Rugby plan.”