It's happening! SA to host the Rugby World Cup Sevens

The news just got rosier for SA Rugby.

In the week the Springboks set up a Rugby World Cup final meeting with England‚ it was announced here on Tuesday that South Africa will host Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2022.

Cape Town will host the event after the World Rugby Council awarded the hosting rights for the premier tournament to South Africa at its interim meeting.

The eighth edition of the tournament is scheduled to be played in September 2022 and it will be the first time it comes to Africa.

The news will come as a huge relief to SA Rugby after a succession of failed bids for major events.

They missed out on the 2011 Rugby World Cup that went to New Zealand‚ the 2015 showpiece that went to England‚ the 2019 edition that was awarded to Japan‚ as well as the 2023 tournament that will be hosted by France.

The main prize‚ however‚ still eludes SA Rugby having only staged the event once in 1995.

The world’s best 24 men’s and 16 women’s rugby sevens teams will take to the field at the Cape Town Stadium in Green Point where they will compete for world champion status over three days of exhilarating action‚” World Rugby said in a statement.

“The 55‚000-capacity stadium is the same venue that has hosted the hugely successful HSBC Cape Town Sevens since 2015‚ and for the first time this year will host both men’s and women’s teams across three days of competition as part of the new-look HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.

“The 2022 tournament follows an exceptional Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 in San Francisco which attracted a record attendance for a rugby event in the USA of more than 100‚000 fans as well as a huge domestic broadcast audience of more than nine million viewers. 

“The three-day event‚ hosted at AT&T Park‚ generated a US$90.5 million (R1.3 billion) economic contribution to San Francisco (Nielsen Sport) and saw both New Zealand’s men’s and women’s teams retain the title. 

“The awarding of the tournament to South Africa comes after an initial record of 11 unions – Argentina‚ Cayman Islands‚ France‚ Germany‚ India‚ Jamaica‚ Malaysia‚ Qatar‚ Scotland‚ South Africa and Tunisia – confirmed an expression of interest to the international federation.

“South Africa have a proven track record of delivering a sell-out event in the HSBC Cape Town Sevens‚ which is an esteemed tournament on the world series and will be of huge value to the planning and execution of Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022.”

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