Fans gets less bang for their buck at Cape Town Sevens explainer

Fans gets less bang for their buck at Cape Town Sevens

Those fans who purchased tickets for this weekend’s Cape Town Sevens at the Cape Town Stadium are in for a rude shock.

Those fans who purchased tickets for this weekend's Cape Town Sevens at the Cape Town Stadium are in for a rude shock. Image: SA Rugby website

Those fans who purchased tickets for this weekend’s Cape Town Sevens at the Cape Town Stadium are in for a rude shock.

This comes after World Rugby confirmed a surprise, late change to how the pool format will work in the Mother City on Saturday.

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In a change from last weekend’s season opener in Dubai – and a change from how things worked last season – the 12 teams have been divided into four pools of three teams each.

The four pool winners will advance directly to semi-finals and a chance to reach the medal podium in Cape Town.

That means there will be no quarter-finals now in Cape Town.

The second placed teams will enter the 5th-8th place playoffs and the third placed teams go into the 9th-12th place playoffs.

This was NOT the case in Dubai this past weekend – nor last season – where there were three pools of four teams each with the top two in each pool plus the next two best sides progressing to the quarter-finals.

That means a total of 12 pool matches (down from 18) for both the men and women.

In addition, the fact that there will also be no Last 8 stage means another EIGHT fewer matches to enjoy (four for the men and four for the women).

The pools for Cape Town were allocated based on rankings at the end of the Dubai tournament.

The Blitzboks have been drawn in Pool C alongside Argentina and Ireland.

Argentina finished third in Dubai with the Springbok Sevens side in sixth. Ireland were 11th.

The Springbok Women’s Sevens side will not be in action in Cape Town.

Meanwhile, the schedule for the weekend has been confirmed with the Blitzboks playing Ireland at 11:44 and Argentina at 18:41 in their pool matches on Saturday.

Thanks to the fewer fixtures, fans will have to wait a yawning nearly SEVEN HOURS between the Blitzboks’ two fixtures.

Cape Town pool fixtures – Saturday, 7 December

Women
09h00: USA v Fiji
09h22: Ireland v Spain
09h44: Japan v China
10h06: Canada v Brazil
12h16: Great Britain v Fiji
12h38: France v Spain
13h00: New Zealand v China
13h22: Australia v Brazil
15h42: Great Britain v USA
16h04: France v Ireland
16h26: New Zealand v Japan
16h48: Australia v Canada

Men
10h38: France v USA
11h00: Australia v Kenya
11h22: Great Britain v Uruguay
11h44: South Africa v Ireland
13h54: New Zealand v USA
14h16: Spain v Kenya
14h38: Fiji v Uruguay
15h00: Argentina v Ireland
17h35: New Zealand v France
17h57: Spain v Australia
18h19: Fiji v Great Britain
18h41: Argentina v South Africa