Although it was almost inevitable, confirmation of the scrapping of the Cape Town leg of the HSBC World Sevens series left a hollow feeling.

Traditionally, Cape Town is the second leg of the popular 10-stop Sevens World Series and alongside Hong Kong, is the most popular stop on the tour.

For a second straight year, the Blitzboks will not have the chance to play in front of a home crowd and the women’s team will not be able to build on the inaugural 2019 event.

The tournament is traditionally staged at the start of the summer holidays with the 2021 event pencilled in for 10-12 December in the fantastic Cape Town Stadium in Green Point. Since moving to Cape Town from Gqeberha, the tournament has drawn upwards of 110,000 people over three days.

The event, which has established itself on the 10-leg circuit, is a major tourist attraction for the City of Cape Town and a vital earner for SA Rugby. According to the City the event adds over R700-million annually to the region’s GDP.

The Cape Town stop added R941-million to City GDP in 2019 in direct, indirect and induced economic activity and R49-million in direct taxation to the City. That’s according to a SA Rugby economic impact assessment study of the tournament.

World Rugby and SA Rugby announced on Friday that the Cape Town leg of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, as well as the tournament in Singapore, planned for 29-30 October, have been cancelled.

“We highly regret that we had to cancel the Cape Town Sevens for a second successive season, but unfortunately the situation with the pandemic has made it impossible for us to stage the world-class event we’ve become used to in recent years,” Jurie Roux, chief executive of SA Rugby said.

“There were simply too many insurmountable challenges, in the ever-changing environment we are currently operating in, to allow us to predictably plan for an event of this magnitude.

“Due to Covid travel restrictions, several major teams had already indicated that they would not be able to travel to Cape Town in December, which further complicated our planning.

“In conjunction with World Rugby, we had no other choice than to take this very disappointing but necessary decision, with the health and welfare of players, fans and the wider public as top priority. However, we are hard at work to deliver a world-class Rugby World Cup Sevens in September next year.”

New schedule

As a result of the cancellation of the two tournaments, the World Series will now look slightly different for the 2021 season.

The series will still kick off with the HSBC Canada Sevens men’s events alongside women’s fast four tournaments in Vancouver (18-19 September) and Edmonton (25-26 September) later this month — forming the 2021 Series — while Dubai will now host a pair of men’s and women’s combined events, which will kick off the 2022 Series. 

The Emirates Dubai 7s will host a behind-closed-doors round on 26-27 November, followed by a second event on 3-4 December with fans in attendance at The Sevens Stadium.

A busy and exciting year is already in the planning for 2022, with the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, which will be announced later this month, followed by the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on 29-31 July, and concluding with the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town on 9-11 September.

Following constructive discussions, it has been agreed that Sydney, Australia and Hamilton, New Zealand, will not be part of the schedule in 2022 due to the ongoing travel and logistical challenges associated with the Covid-19 pandemic in this region. Advanced discussions are ongoing towards replacement hosts for these events in the 2022 Series.

“The truly global nature of the Series has made it difficult to plan with certainty in this uniquely challenging time,” World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin said.

“As the ongoing and dynamic impacts and travel restrictions associated with the Covid-19 pandemic continue to present a challenge to all stakeholders. As ever, the health and welfare of players, fans and wider society continue to be our primary concern.

“Together with the host organisers we are disappointed not to be able to deliver the planned Series events in Singapore and Cape Town this year, however we look forward to bringing the joy and spirit of rugby sevens back to both cities in 2022.

“The events in Canada this month offer a unique opportunity for the teams participating to compete in a winner-takes-all pair of events in the 2021 Series.” DM