World Rugby and hosts, SA Rugby, confirmed that Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 in Cape Town will take place next year from 9-11 September, with the Springbok Sevens and Imbokodo teams included on the playing roster.
The eighth edition – which will be contested by 24 men’s and 16 women’s teams – is the first to be hosted in Africa with organisers anticipating a very special and record-breaking event at the iconic 57,654 capacity Cape Town Stadium. The top eight men’s teams and top four women’s teams from the hugely successful RWC Sevens 2018 in San Francisco, USA, have already secured automatic qualification for the tournament in 2022.
The qualified teams for the men’s event are defending champions New Zealand, England, the Blitzboks, Fiji, Argentina, USA, France, and Scotland. Amongst the women’s teams, the Springbok Women’s Sevens side will join defending champions New Zealand, France, Australia and USA in Cape Town.
Teams that have not qualified automatically will do so via their respective regional tournaments held in Europe, Oceania, Asia, North America, South America, and Africa. With 16 places available in the men’s tournament and 11 in the women’s from regional competitions.
The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series will no longer form part of the qualification pathway for Rugby World Cup Sevens. Regional qualification is expected to start in August of this year with further details to be announced at a later stage.
Alongside confirmation of the dates and new qualification pathway, the bespoke tournament brand, developed by World Rugby and SA Rugby, has also been unveiled. The striking brand radiates unity, energy and passion and celebrates the spirit of rugby sevens that will ignite Cape Town’s finest rugby stage, as the top men’s and women’s teams from around the world compete to be crowned world champions.
In addition, RWC Sevens 2018 attracted cumulative domestic and global broadcast audiences of more than 24 million and 31 million viewers respectively, which included a record-breaking live broadcast audience of 1.7 million on its final day. The tournament also leveraged 22.5 million social media video views on World Rugby channels over the course of the event.
Details of the ticket sales launch will be announced later this year.
