CAPE TOWN RUGBY SEVENS CANCELLED
World Rugby has cancelled its annual Cape Town leg of the 2020/21 Sevens tournament.
This comes after the Dubai tournament was also cancelled due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. The rest of the tournament is to tentatively go ahead, depending on a series of regulations and conditions surrounding the pandemic.
The Dubai and Cape Town legs of the international tournament traditionally serves as the two opening legs. The Dubai leg would have taken place from the 26th to the 28th of November and the Cape Town leg from the 4th to the 6th of December respectively.
On its website, World Rugby said that the decisions were taken in line with relevant government and international public health authority advice, and with the health and wellbeing of the rugby community and the wider public taking precedence.
"While we share in the disappointment of players, teams, fans, hosts and everyone involved with the popular events in Dubai and Cape Town, this is a prudent decision taken with the health and wellbeing of the global rugby community and wider society as our top priority, and guided by the relevant government and international public health authority advice. We look forward to welcoming these wonderful destinations back to the Series following this year’s hiatus,” World Rugby Chief Executive, Brett Gosper, said.
The international organisation in charge of the series confirmed that both Dubai and Cape Town will return to a full series schedule beyond this season.
The 2019/20 series was cut short at the outbreak of the pandemic, and New Zealand’s men’s and women’s teams were crowned as the series winner based on the log standings at the time.
Image credits: SA Rugby Travel and The Newspaper.