The World Rugby Seven Series has been cancelled with the New Zealand men and women’ teams awarded the World Seven’s titles. The season was cancelled due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
RTE Sport report that tournaments in Singapore, London, Paris and Hong Kong were all cancelled on the men’s sevens tour. The tournaments in the USA, Paris and Hong Kong were suspended in the women’s equivalent. As a consequence the Ireland sevens team have finished 10th overall, while the women’s side have also finished 10th overall. It was the first time Anthony Eddy’s side competed in the tournament having came 6th in the Cape town tour, 6th in the LA tour and 7th in Sydney earlier in the year.
Bill Beaumont the chairman of World Rugby confirmed the news on Tuesday. He said, “While it is very disappointing for players, fans, organisers and everyone involved … the health and wellbeing of the rugby community and wider society remains the number one priority,”. He continued, “These difficult decisions have been taken following detailed consultation with our union partners and in line with advice from the various government and public health agencies around the world.”
It is a 13th sevens title for the New Zealand men’s side. They won three of the six rounds that were completed before Covid 19. South Africa finished 11 points back , while Fiji finished third. The women’s side won 4 rounds from 5. They were well on the way to a sixth title in 8 years before Covid 19 put a stop to it.
In terms of the Challenger tournament, no finals will be played. World Rugby said there will also be no promotion and or relegation from the top tiers. World Rugby said, “As a result of these amendments, seedings for the Tokyo Olympic Games will be adapted to include results from the 2021 Series to ensure they provide the most robust and accurate representation of current form,”
