New International Rugby Sevens competition to be launched in February

World Rugby has unveiled plans to launch a new international rugby sevens competition in February 2020.

The World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series will feature 13 core men’s teams from the six World Rugby regions who will compete over two rounds alongside three invitational teams.

The top eight core teams after the two rounds will then compete in the final playoff tournament for a spot in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, replacing the bottom placed core team in the World Series in the following season.

The two legs of the inaugural World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series will be played in South America in Viña del Mar, Chile (15-16 February 2020) and Montevideo, Uruguay (22-23 February 2020).

Thirteen nations have earned their place in the Challenger Series by finishing as the top ranked nations who are not already competing in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series at their respective regional sevens competitions in 2019.

The teams who will compete in the 2020 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series are Brazil, Chile, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Tonga, Uganda, Uruguay and Zimbabwe. They will be joined by three invitational teams from the Americas in Colombia, Mexico and Paraguay.

The final playoff tournament will be hosted alongside the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens event on 3-5 April 2020.

World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series participants Brazil, Chile, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Mexico, Tonga, Uganda and Zimbabwe will all take part in the Olympic repechage in June 2020 to try and secure their ticket to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

World Rugby Head of Competitions and Performance Mark Egan said, “This is just the beginning for the Sevens Challenger Series, which will also see a women’s competition launched in 2020 and will evolve to feature more rounds across the globe as it grows and develops in future years. The competition will allow unions outside of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series to compete on a more regular basis with a clear pathway to the highest level. Launching next year will provide an excellent platform for nations to develop and improve their competitiveness ahead of Tokyo 2020 and Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 in South Africa.