Captains set to make history at HSBC Cape Town Sevens

The 28 captains competing at the HSBC Cape Town Sevens on 13-15 December assembled at the Cape Town Stadium on Tuesday.

This year’s tournament will be the first time that Cape Town has hosted both the men’s and women’s competitions in a season that will see the men’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series contested over 10 rounds, and the women’s over a record eight.

Cape Town is one of six combined men’s and women’s events this year before 24 teams will travel to Japan in July for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Following a successful Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens last weekend, where South Africa’s men and New Zealand’s women were victorious, the Cape Town event will be the second round on the men’s series and the third on the women’s.

In true Cape Town style, the captains were joined on the pitch by a number of native animals from local wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centres to celebrate this special moment in world series history.

As the 16th location to host a women’s event since the series began in 2012-13, Cape Town will provide South Africa’s women with their first opportunity to play in front of a home crowd as they prepare to take to the field as the invitational side.