World Rugby has confirmed the schedule for the
HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020 in what will be the biggest
season to date, with Fiji and New Zealand fighting to retain the
men’s and women’s titles respectively.
The women’s
competition will increase from six to eight rounds for the first
time in the history of the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series,
with six of those being combined men’s and women’s events, while
the men’s circuit will once again be contested across 10 rounds.
Following a record-breaking Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 in San
Francisco, the men’s competition will once again travel to the
United States where it will be hosted in Los Angeles.
The
move from Las Vegas will see the two-day event return to the home
stadium of the MLS side, LA Galaxy and the NFL's LA Chargers,
Dignity Health Sports Park in California - the same venue
earmarked to host rugby sevens in the LA 2028 Olympic Games.
Ireland are welcomed as one of the 15 core men’s teams for
2020 while Brazil will join the ten other core women’s teams after
both sides earned qualification for next season’s world series in
Hong Kong in April this year.
As in previous years each round of
the series will include an invitational team to complete the
line-up of 16 men’s and 12 women’s teams.
The 2019 series
acted as the principal qualification route for the Tokyo 2020
Olympic Games with the men’s and women’s teams finishing in the
top four earning automatic qualification. To date, eight men’s and
seven women’s teams have qualified for Tokyo as the regional
qualification competitions continue before the last places are
decided at the Olympic repechage tournament scheduled to take
place in June 2020.
The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020
will serve as crucial build-up to Tokyo as rugby sevens prepares
to make its second appearance in the Olympic Games programme
following its successful introduction at Rio 2016, which attracted
30 million new fans to the shortened format of the game worldwide.
Sevens is experiencing exponential growth and as well as
breaking records on the pitch, the men’s and women’s HSBC World
Rugby Sevens Series 2019 reached all-time fan engagement figures
with over 198 million video views, a 65 per cent increase on 2018.
The women’s series opener will be hosted in Glendale,
Colorado, USA on 5-6 October, 2019 in what will be the second time
that the standalone event has kicked off the season.
Rounds two and three are combined events alongside the men’s
series, taking place in Dubai, UAE on 5-7 December, 2019 and in Cape Town, South Africa on 13/14-15 December, 2019 where the women
will play at the Cape Town Stadium for the first time.
In
the new year both the men and women will travel to Hamilton, New
Zealand where they will play their third combined event on 25-26
January before both travelling to Sydney, Australia for 1-2
February.
The first standalone men’s competition of 2020
will take place in Los Angeles, USA on 29 February to 1 March
followed by Vancouver, Canada a week later on 7-8 March.
The fifth dual men’s and women’s event will be hosted in Hong Kong
from 3-5 April before the eighth round of the men’s series is
hosted in Singapore on 11-12 April.
The penultimate stop
on the women’s circuit will take place in Langford, Canada on 2-3
May with the ninth men’s round being hosted at Twickenham Stadium
in London, England on 23-24 May.
The men’s and women’s
competitions will both culminate in Paris, France on 30-31 May.
World Rugby Chairman, Sir Bill Beaumont, said, "2020 is
going to be the biggest year on record for the HSBC World Rugby
Sevens Series, with more women’s and combined events than ever
before, and with the series acting as key preparation for those
teams competing in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. 2019 was
a hugely successful season for rugby sevens, with not only the
quality of rugby on the pitch setting new and even higher
standards, but with record-breaking audience engagement figures
with our online video content, which received over 198 million
views. This is extremely encouraging as we enter a new
era for rugby sevens which promises to bring fans even more
excitement both on and off the field."
HSBC Global Head of Brand
Partnerships, Jonathan Castleman, said: "Our decade long
partnership with the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series remains one of
the most successful elements of our global partnership programme. With the dates for next season now confirmed, it is a
great opportunity to look ahead. Particularly pleasing is the
increased number of joint men’s and women’s legs - a change we
worked collaboratively with World Rugby on over recent years as
part of our broader efforts to support the growth of the women’s
game. 2020 also marks the return of rugby sevens at the Olympics. Following its successful debut at the Rio 2016 Games, the
sport is dynamic, growing and is an increasing presence in new
markets all over the world. We can’t wait to see how it can make
the most of the opportunity to shine on the global stage once
again. We continue to be immensely proud of our role working
alongside World Rugby to enable the success of sevens and are
excited about the growth still to come."
HSBC
World Rugby Sevens Series 2020 Schedule
5-6
October 2019: Infinity Park, Colorado, USA – women’s standalone
event
5-7 December 2019: The Sevens, Dubai, UAE – combined
men’s and women’s event
13-15 December 2019: Cape Town
Stadium, Cape Town, South Africa – combined men’s and women’s
event
25-26 January 2020: FMG Stadium, Hamilton, New
Zealand – combined men’s and women’s event
1-2 February
2020: Bankwest Stadium, Sydney, Australia – combined men’s and
women’s event
29 February – 1 March 2020: Dignity Health
Sports Park, Los Angeles, USA – men’s standalone event
7-8
March 2020: BC Place Stadium, Vancouver, Canada – men’s standalone
event
3-5 April 2020: Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong –
combined men’s and women’s event
11-12 April 2020: National
Stadium, Singapore – men’s standalone event
2-3 May 2020:
Westhills Stadium, Langford, Canada – women’s standalone event
23-24 May 2020: Twickenham Stadium, London, England – men’s
standalone event
30-31 May 2020: Stade Jean-Bouin, Paris,
France – combined men’s and women’s event
27 July – 1
August 2020: Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Tokyo, Japan
All
fixture details correct at time of publication / subject to change.
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.
Published on TravelNewsAsia.com at: https://www.asiatraveltips.com/news19/98-WorldRugbySevens.shtml
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