World Rugby has cancelled the remaining rounds of both the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series and Challenger Series 2020 due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
The decision by the sport’s global governing body has been taken with the health and wellbeing of the rugby community and the wider public as a top priority and in line with the relevant national government and public health authority advice.
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, given the global nature of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
World Rugby Chairman, Sir Bill Beaumont.
Japan, who was top of the log after the two legs in Vina del Mar, Chile and Montevideo, Uruguay, has been awarded the inaugural Challenger Series title and thus has been promoted to HSBC World Rugby Sevens series for the 2021 season as the 16th core team.
The final leg was to be held in Hong Kong alongside the Hong Kong Sevens round in which only the top eight were to compete for promotion to the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series as a core side.
Uganda Men’s Sevens who were in seventh place will have to wait longer for an opportunity to take part in the global sport’s most entertaining showpiece.
Also affected by this decision is the seeding for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics which will be adapted to include results from the 2021 series. This will be to ensure World Rugby provides the most robust and accurate representation of current form when the Olympic Games commence in July 2021.