2024 Cape Town Sevens Captains at Port Side Building on Wednesday, Dec 4, 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa.
Photo: Zach Franzen/ Alex Ho / World Rugby
Pacific sevens rugby fans will turn their attention to two tournaments being held over the weekend, results of which will determine how their respective national teams are going to be placed over the next 12 months.
The Fijian men’s team claimed the Dubai Sevenss title last weekend, their first in the HSBC SVNS Series since 2022 and 22 earlier tournaments without a title win.
This weekend they line up, as the only Pasifika team, at the Cape Town Sevens with alot of interest focused on whether they can repeat their Dubai performance and claim a back-to-back win.
Closer to home, Honiara hosts the Oceania Sevens tournament for the first time, with two men’s and one women’s team assured a spot in the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series in 2025.
That is the first step towards qualifying for the annual world sevens series, which the Samoan men’s team was a part of until June this year.
Fiji v Spain during the 2024 Emirates Dubai 7s Pool C match at The Sevens Stadium on Saturday.
Photo: Zach Franzen / World Rugby
Fiji face test in Cape Town
A revised format at the Cape Town tournament means all teams will be gunning to win so they can earn maximum points, in both the men’s and women’s competition.
World Rugby confirmed earlier this week that only the pool winners will make it into the semi-finals and get the chance to win the title.
There are no quarterfinals, in both the men’s and women’s competitions, following a change in format and World Rugby says the new format has been introduced based on player welfare considerations.
“The competition format in Cape Town has been introduced following consultation with stakeholders including teams and is based on player welfare considerations,” Philip Wilkinson, Head of PR and Communications at World Rugby said.
“The competition format is optimal for a two-day event, which allows teams an extra day of recovery and preparation following the first round of HSBC SVNS in Dubai last weekend. It will be implemented in Cape Town and Singapore, which are played on the weekends immediately following the events in Dubai and Hong Kong respectively.
“The four pool winners will progress to the cup semi-finals. The second placed teams will enter the 5th-8th place play offs and the third placed teams in to the 9th-12th place play offs.”
The Fijians will be chasing to re-wirte history, chasing a second back-to-back win, with their last in 2019.
In the 24 years of World Sevens Series, the Fiji men’s team have only won back-t-back once, winning the London 7s in 2019, beating Australia, and then defeating New Zealand in Paris a week later.
Head coah Osea Kolinisau said they will need to be consistent and that is their focus, after Dubai.
He has been drilling his players over the last few days in Cape Town.
“Hard work,” he said, “that is how we can be cosnsistent.”
“We just need to keep working hard and doing what we need to do. The focus has not changed.”
Big forward Kavekini Tanivanuakula, who along with George Bose made his debut at the Dubai 7s, said he knows they will need to keep working as a team to win in Cape Town.
“I’ve learnt and seen a lot and I’m grateful to be given this opportunity, I also thank the coaches and my teammates for giving their time to teach me,” he said.
“This is a dream come true. I am looking forward to improving my game at the Capw Town sevens and being part of the team is great, we have good unity and there are standards we have to meet every time.
“That drives me and the players as we look towards Cape Town.”
Bose said they will need to keep working on their defense, as that was something that he saw dropped in some of the matches they played in Dubai.
“I could see a lot of changes in the standard of the different teams we faced and we were made to keep working together as a team,” Bose said.
“We need to keep working on our defense and make sure that our midfield is strong, defending our line and I hope to work on that for the weekend.
“The team is playing at a different level, compared to what we have locally so our focus has to be on the standards every other team has and we have to keep improving and moving forward.”
Although their pool looks easy on paper, Kolinisau has warned the Fijians not to be complacent.
Men’s pool A see Fiji paired with Great Britain and Uruguay.
Spain, who beat New Zealand twice in Dubai and lost to Fiji in the final, are in pool B, together with Australia and Kenya, while pool C has Argentina, hosts South Africa and Ireland.
New Zealand are in pool D with Olympic champions France and the USA.
Women’s pool A see Dubai winners Australia against Olympic silver medallists Canada and Brazil. Olympic champions New Zealand are in pool B with Japan and China. Pool C is an all European affair with France, Ireland and Spain. Finally in pool D Great Britain take on the USA and Fiji.
Four points separates Fiji from Spain on the men’s points table while Australia holds the same advantage over archrival New Zealand in the women’s competition.
The Fijiana women’s team will have another tough weekend as they USA and Great Britain.
Head coach Timoci Volavola said at the weekend they will continue to work on improving their game, with nine new players who made their debut in Dubai this past weekend.
World Rugby said after Cape Town there will only be the Perth, Vancouver, Hong Kong and Singapore to decide the HSBC Sevens League Winners, before the HSBC Sevens World Championship at Dignity Health Sports Park in Los Angeles.
The top eight placed teams based on cumulative series points after six events in Singapore will compete in the ‘winner takes all’ World Championship, where the women’s and men’s Sevens Champions will be crowned.
Los Angeles will also play host to the high stakes promotion and relegation play-off competition where teams ranked ninth to 12th will join the top four teams from the World Rugby Sevens Challenger, in a battle to secure their places in the next HSBC Sevens.
Oceania teams to be decided in Honiara
Meanwhile, Samoa and Tonga are front runnders for the top spots at the Oceania 7s tournament in Honiara this weekend.
Two men’s and a women’s team will qualify for the World Rugby Sevens Challenger series from Oceania, to join the other teams already confirmed.
Fiji, which is fielding a men’s and women’s teams in Honiara, will not be i the running for the top spots as they are already a core team in the HSBC Sevens Series.
That opens the door for Samoa men’s, who were part of the series until June this year, to reclaim their spot in the challenger series, where Tonga and Papua New Guinea had featured in the past four years.
PNG is out this year because of their current suspension from Oceania Rugby.
Samoa and Tonga will likely be chasing the top two men’s spots, but they should also face stiff competition from the Cook Islands, while in the women’s competition, with one spot available, there is interest in who will take that spot.
The Oceania qualifiers will then need to be ready for the HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 series, whick will begin with back-to-back events in Cape Town on March 1 and March 7, 2025.
The top ranked eight men’s and women’s teams from those two events will progress to the third and final tournament at the Henryk Reyman’s Municipal Stadium in Krakow on April 11.
World Rugby said the four men’s and women’s teams with the most cumulative points gained across the three Challenger rounds will then qualify for the HSBC SVNS Play Off in Los Angeles on May 3 – 4, where they will face the bottom four ranked teams from HSBC Sevens 2025 in a high stakes promotion and relegation tournament with four coveted places in future SVNS at stake.
Ten men’s teams have already secured their places in the challenger series, these being Brazil, Canada, Chile, Georgia, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong China, Madagascar, Portugal and Uganda.
Argentina, Belgium, Colombia, Czechia, Hong Kong China, Kenya, Mexico, Thailand, Poland, South Africa and Uganda are the 11 teams to have secured their places in the women’s competition, this weekend.
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