2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens
The 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens will be the eighth edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens organised by World Rugby. The 2022 tournament, which will again comprise 24 men's and 16 women's teams, will be played over three days in one venue in September. It will take place at the Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa between 9 and 11 September 2022. It will be the first ever Rugby World Cup Sevens in Africa. The dates will be chosen to take into account in the Commonwealth Games tournament which will take place in July the same year.[1]
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host nation |  South Africa |
| Venue | Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town |
| Dates | 9 September – 11 September |
| No. of nations |
|
Champions  |
|
← 2018 2026 → | |
Bidding
A record 11 unions formally expressed interest in hosting Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022.[1] The unions were issued formal bid application documents by World Rugby and had to submit their responses by 16 July 2019.[1] South Africa was awarded the rights to host the tournament on 29 October 2019.[2]
Venue
The tournament will take place at the Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town.
South Africa will host Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 after the World Rugby Council awarded the hosting rights for the tournament to South Africa at its Interim Meeting in Tokyo on 30 October 2019.
In September 2022 the eighth edition of the showcase event will take place in Cape Town in what will be the first time that Rugby World Cup Sevens has been hosted on the African continent.
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 action.
The 55,000-capacity stadium is the same venue that has hosted the 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 World Rugby Sevens Series.
The 2022 tournament follows a 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 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.
Schedule
The tournament will be played for 3 days between 9 and 11 September.
Qualifying
Men
The eight quarter-finalists from the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens, including the 2022 tournament host South Africa, are automatic qualifiers.[3] The remaining 16 places will be decided from the six continental championships.[3]
| Qualifying | Africa[lower-alpha 1] | North America[lower-alpha 2] | South America[lower-alpha 3] | Asia[lower-alpha 4] | Europe | Oceania[lower-alpha 5] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Automatic Qualifiers |
South Africa (Hosts) |
 United States |
 Argentina |
— |  England France Scotland |
 Fiji New Zealand (Holders) |
| Continental Qualifiers |
 Uganda Zimbabwe Kenya |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Canada Jamaica |
 Chile Uruguay |
 Hong Kong South Korea |
To be determined | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Australia Samoa Tonga |
| Total Places (24) |
4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 5 |
- Notes
- Africa: The top three teams from the 2022 Africa Men's Sevens joined host nation South Africa at the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens.
- North America: The top two teams from the 2022 RAN Sevens Qualifiers joined automatic qualifier United States at the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens.
- South America: The top two teams from the 2021 Sudamérica Rugby Sevens joined automatic qualifier Argentina at the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens.
- Asia did not have an automatic qualifer for the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens but the top two teams from the 2021 Asia Rugby Sevens Series won qualifier berths.
- Oceania was not able to hold a qualifying tournament due to ongoing impacts of COVID-19 in 2021 and 2022. Fiji and New Zealand qualified automatically but the other three qualifiers were determined by placings in the World Rugby Sevens Series and Oceania Sevens.[4] No Oceania teams played in the 2021 World Series but Australia and Samoa were given qualifier berths at the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens due to finishing 4th and 12th, respectively, in the 2020 World Series.[4] Tonga gained the final berth by placing 5th in the 2019 Oceania Sevens, which was the last continental championship contested by the majority of eligible unions.[4]
Women
The four semifinalists from the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens are automatic qualifiers, with South Africa also qualifying as host.[3] The remaining eleven places will be decided from the six continental championships.[3]
| Africa[lower-alpha 1] | North America[lower-alpha 2] | South America[lower-alpha 3] | Asia[lower-alpha 4] | Europe | Oceania[lower-alpha 5] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Automatic Qualifiers |
South Africa (Hosts) |
United States |
— | — | France |
Australia New Zealand (Holders) |
| Continental Qualifiers |
 Madagascar |
Canada |
 Brazil Colombia |
 China Japan |
Fiji | |
| Total Places (16) |
2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 3 |
- Notes
- Africa: The runner-up of the 2022 Africa Women's Sevens joined automatic qualifier South Africa (who won the tournament) at the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens.
- North America: The winner of the 2022 RAN Women's Sevens Qualifiers joined automatic qualifier United States at the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens.
- South America did not have an automatic qualifier but the top two teams from the 2021 Sudamérica Rugby Women's Sevens won qualifier berths.
- Asia did not have an automatic qualifier but the top two teams from the 2021 Asia Rugby Women's Sevens Series won qualifier berths.
- Oceania was not able to hold a qualifying tournament due to ongoing impacts of COVID-19 in 2021 and 2022. While New Zealand and Australia qualified automatically, the third qualifier berth at the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens was determined by the most recent placings in the World Rugby Series,[4] awarded to Fiji who finished 7th in the 2020 World Series.[4]
Tournament
Women
References
- "Record hosting interest for Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 - HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series".
- "South Africa to host Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022".
- "Qualifying". RWC Sevens. Archived from the original on 20 July 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
- "Oceania Rugby confirms 2022 Commonwealth Games and Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 Qualifiers". Oceania Rugby. 9 March 2022. Archived from the original on 14 March 2022.