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(08 September 2022, 11:37 +07) All 40 international team captains lined up in front of the majestic Table Mountain in Cape Town on Wednesday as excitement reaches fever pitch ahead of the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022, which takes place 9-11 September at Cape Town Stadium.
The unique ‘winner takes all’ knock-out competition format first introduced at Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 in San Francisco means every match counts as teams will need to win every time they walk onto the pitch in order to become world champions.
The 24-team men’s competition kicks off the action on day one with a qualification round involving teams seeded from 9 to 24. The winners of the qualification round will progress to the round of 16 where they will take on the top eight seeded teams, while the losers will go into the Bowl competition which will decide positions 17 to 24.
There will be some hard fought matches in the qualification round as ninth seeds Ireland, who have been in outstanding form on the World Series this year, play Portugal, who overcame core Series team Spain in the European qualifier to claim their place in Cape Town.
All 40 team captains in front of the majestic Table Mountain in Cape Town
Germany and Chile, who have both impressed as invitational teams on the World Series, come face-to-face in the qualification.
Hosts South Africa are top seeds in the men’s tournament following a remarkable 36-match winning streak which saw them win six rounds of the World Series in a row across 2021-2022. However, they will face stiff competition with Australia seeded second and double Olympic champions Fiji seeded third. New Zealand are the reigning men’s champions and are seeded fifth coming in to the event.
The 16-team women’s tournament also begins on Friday with the round of 16 knock out matches based on seedings on the first day of competition.
Women’s Olympic champions and reigning RWC Sevens winners New Zealand play Colombia, top seeds Australia take on debutants Madagascar, and hosts South Africa face Olympic silver medallists France.
Women’s teams qualified either via finishing in the top four at the last RWC Sevens in 2018, and through regional qualification tournaments while men’s teams qualified by finishing in the top eight at the last RWC Sevens in 2018, and via regional qualification tournaments.
The seedings for both men’s and women’s competitions were based on points accrued during the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in 2020 and 2022, while teams who do not participate on the Series were seeded using their rankings gained at World Rugby Sevens events and regional ranking positions ending in July 2022.
The eighth men’s and fourth women’s edition of Rugby World Cup Sevens represents the first Rugby World Cup of any kind since the famous 1995 Rugby World Cup when South Africa were victorious on home soil as President Nelson Mandela handed the Webb Ellis Cup to Francois Pienaar to inspire the Rainbow Nation.
“For us as a team we’re just chasing perfection. This is a standalone tournament, a massive tournament in front of our home crowd and we’re really excited for that. The fact that it is a knockout tournament doesn’t change the mindset for us. We are focused on getting the perfect game and we focus on ourselves as a team and the standards that we uphold. We are chasing that perfect game from game one,” said Siviwe Soyizwapi, Captain of South Africa men. “To be double would champions [alongside South Africa Men XV] would be massive. It would be great for the nation. We all know what rugby can do for our country. This our first home sevens rugby since 2019 here in Cape Town so as players and a team, the whole system is excited to run out there this weekend and represent our country. We know how the crowd can get behind us and the fans will really make this tournament. As a team we are really excited.”
The action kicks off at 08:45 (GMT+2) local time on Friday when Ireland and Portugal take to the pitch in the men’s competition. The women’s tournament gets under way when Australia face Madagascar at 12:11 on Friday.
Rugby sevens fans around the world can watch the action via live stream in countries where there is no national broadcaster covering the event.
Rugby pictures: Pictures from 2019 Cathay Pacific / HSBC Hong Kong Sevens,
Pictures from 2018 Cathay Pacific / HSBC Hong Kong Sevens,
Pictures from 2017 Cathay Pacific / HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, Pictures from 2016 Cathay Pacific / HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, Pictures of Cathay Pacific / HSBC Hong Kong Sevens 2015, Pictures of the Asia Rugby Sevens Olympic Games Qualifier in Hong Kong, Pictures of Singha Thailand Sevens 2015,
Pictures from the 2013 British & Irish Lions Tour in Hong Kong,
Pictures of Hong Kong Sevens 2014,
Pictures of Hong Kong Sevens 2013,
Pictures of Chartis Cup 2012 and
Pictures of Cathay Pacific / HSBC Hong Kong Sevens 2012.
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