The 2021 World Rugby Sevens Series was the 22nd annual series of rugby sevens tournaments for national men's rugby sevens teams. The Sevens Series has been run by World Rugby since 1999. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, only two tournaments were played in the 2021 series instead of the usual ten.[1] The number of teams participating was also reduced from sixteen to twelve at the tournaments, with many of the top teams from the previous series not taking part.[2]
The series was won by South Africa who won both tour events on their way to claiming their fourth World Series title.
Teams
The twelve national men's teams competing in the 2021 series were:
Core teams qualified from the previous season and not competing in 2021 were:
Argentina, Australia, Fiji, France, Japan, New Zealand and Samoa, who did not travel due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.[a]
England, Scotland and Wales did not take part, being represented instead by Great Britain.[b]
As a result, five teams from the Challenger Series were invited to both events to complete a 12-team field. Hong Kong, Germany and Chile were in the top four of the 2020 Series, while Jamaica and Mexico were the only North American entrants.
Tour venues
The official schedule for the 2021 World Rugby Sevens Series was:[7][8]
On 4 August organisers announced the cancellation of the Hong Kong Sevens for the second year running because of the emerging Covid-19 Delta variant and global travel restrictions.[9]
On 3 September, World Rugby cancelled the Singapore and Cape Town tournaments due to ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and announced that the 2021 Dubai Sevens tournament would no longer be part of the 2021 series but incorporated into the 2021-22 series instead.[1] This reduced the 2021 series to just two events held in Canada.
^Due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2019–20 champion team New Zealand, Olympic gold medallist Fiji, as well as Australia, Argentina, and Samoa did not compete in the 2021 series,[3] and neither did Japan, the team promoted to core status from the 2020 Challenger Series,[4][5] or France, a late withdrawal due to travel issues.[2]
^ abGreat Britain represented England, Scotland and Wales during the 2021 World Rugby Sevens Series, following their appearance as Team GB at the Olympic Sevens earlier in the year.[6]
^Due to only 12 teams competing in each event in the 2021 World Rugby Sevens Series, the maximum number of points awarded for a tournament win was 20, in line with the usual system for 12 teams in the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series.
