South Africa 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens: Preview, schedule, teams to watch

It's been four years since the last World Cup winners were crowned in San Francisco, and now it's time once more for 40 of the world's top rugby sevens squads to stake a claim as world champions.

Cape Town, South Africa, will welcome the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens from 9–11 September. It is the first time South Africa has hosted the World Cup, and will also be the first time the tournament is played in Africa.

Fiji and New Zealand are the men's and women's Olympic champions respectively, while the All Blacks 7s and Black Ferns 7s are the defending World Cup champions from San Francisco 2018. Unsurprisingly, both teams are expected to make it all the way, and it would be a surprise to see either team eliminated early.

Find out all you need to know below.

READ MORE: Ronald Brown: The cancer survivor who took rugby sevens by storm

Rugby 7s World Cup 2022 teams to watch

New Zealand and Australia will be favourites in the women's tournament – between them, the two teams have won every title since the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series began in 2013; Australia also won the inaugural Olympic gold medal in 2016. Fiji's women are also on the up, having won bronze at Tokyo 2020.

The 2022 World Cup will mark the last time for the foreseeable future that England, Scotland, and Wales compete as separate teams on the sevens circuit. From the 2022/23 Sevens Series season, the teams will play as a combined Great Britain team, as they did in the 2021 season, with a view towards the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

Both Scotland and Wales will have to come through the first round on the men's side of the draw, but England should be one of the teams to make a deep run. Australia – coming off the back of winning the 2021/22 World Rugby Sevens Series –, New Zealand, and hosts South Africa – who won the Commonwealth Games gold medal in August – are other rugby heavyweights who will hope to challenge the Fijians.

While not expected to pull up any trees, the World Cup does give some smaller rugby sevens-playing nations a weekend in the spotlight.

On the men's side of the tournament, Portugal were the surprise qualifiers from Europe, edging out rivals Spain in a qualifying play-off. South Korea have also qualified for their first World Cup Sevens since 2005. Jamaica, Chile, Uruguay, and Germany are among other non-traditional rugby countries to have made it.

Meanwhile, with hosts South Africa having qualified automatically for the women's tournament, Madagascar have taken the qualifying spot for Africa. This is their first participation in the World Cup. Colombia will also make their debut in the women's World Cup.

2022 Rugby World Cup 7s Cape Town - venue

All 84 matches in the tournament will be held at the Cape Town Stadium, a 55,000-capacity venue opened in December 2009 and originally built for the 2010 men's FIFA World Cup.

It currently serves as the home stadium for the United Rugby Championship team Stormers as well as provincial team Western Province, and has hosted the annual South Africa Sevens since the 2015/2016 season, although the last two editions did not take place due to the pandemic. In 2019, it also hosted the Match for Africa tennis exhibition between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

New Zealand have won the only women's sevens series event held at the Cape Town Stadium; South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Fiji have won the men's sevens events between them.

Format of rugby sevens 2022 World Cup

The men's draw involves 24 teams and the women's 16 teams, playing in an elimination bracket format.

However, every team will play at least four matches during the tournament, as loser brackets will be held to produce a final ranking of every competing team.

In the men's event, the top eight teams receive a bye to the Round of 16. The remaining 16 teams open the tournament with the Pre-Round of 16, with the winners moving on to the next round; the losers enter the Bowl bracket. Round of 16 losers enter the Challenge bracket, while all remaining teams are in the Championship bracket.

Within each bracket, quarter-finals are held, followed by semi-finals for both winners and losers, and placement finals.

Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 full schedule

All times South African Standard Time (UTC/GMT +2 hours)

Friday 9 September

• 08:45 Men's Pre-Round of 16: Ireland v Portugal
• 09:07 Men's Pre-Round of 16: Canada v Zimbabwe
• 09:29 Men's Pre-Round of 16: Samoa v Uganda
• 09:51 Men's Pre-Round of 16: Scotland v Jamaica
• 10:23 Men's Pre-Round of 16: Kenya v Tonga
• 10:45 Men's Pre-Round of 16: Wales v Korea
• 11:07 Men's Pre-Round of 16: Hong Kong v Uruguay
• 11:29 Men's Pre-Round of 16: Germany v Chile
• 12:11 Women's Round of 16: Australia v Madagascar
• 12:33 Women's Round of 16: USA v Poland
• 12:55 Women's Round of 16: Canada v China
• 13:17 Women's Round of 16: Fiji v Japan
• 13:54 Women's Round of 16: Ireland v Brazil
• 14:16 Women's Round of 16: England v Spain
• 14:39 Men's Round of 16: England v Ireland/Portugal
• 15:02 Men's Round of 16: France v Canada/Zimbabwe
• 15:39 Men's Round of 16: USA v Samoa/Uganda
• 16:01 Men's Round of 16: New Zealand v Scotland/Jamaica
• 16:23 Men's Round of 16: Argentina v Kenya/Tonga
• 16:45 Men's Round of 16: Australia v Hong Kong/Uruguay
• 17:37 Women's Round of 16: New Zealand v Colombia
• 18:05 Men's Round of 16: Fiji v Wales/Korea
• 18:35 Women's Round of 16: France v South Africa
• 19:03 Men's Round of 16: South Africa v Germany/Chile

Saturday 10 September

• 08:15 Men's Bowl quarter-finals (ranking 17th to 24th)
• 09:53 Women's Challenge quarter-finals (ranking 9th to 16th)
• 11:32 Men's Challenge quarter-finals (ranking 9th to 16th)
• 13:17 Men's Bowl 21/24 Place semi-finals
• 14:01 Men's Bowl semi-finals (ranking 17th to 20th)
• 15:05 Women's Challenge 13/16 semi-finals
• 15:49 Women's Challenge semi-finals (ranking 9th to 12th)
• 16:53 Men's Challenge 13/16 semi-finals
• 17:37 Men's Challenge semi-finals (ranking 9th to 12th)
• 19:07 Women's and Men's Championship quarter-finals

Sunday 11 September

• 08:30 Men's Bowl 23/24 Place
• 08:52 Men's Bowl 21/22 Place
• 09:14 Men's Bowl 19/20 Place
• 09:36 Men's Bowl Final (ranking 17th and 18th)
• 10:18 Women's Championship 5/8 Place semi-finals
• 11:02 Men's Championship 5/8 Place semi-finals
• 12:07 Women's and Men's Championship semi-finals
• 14:15 Women's Challenge 15/16 Place
• 14:37 Women's Challenge 13/14 Place
• 14:59 Women's Challenge 11/12 Place
• 15:21 Women's Challenge Final (ranking 9th and 10th)
• 15:58 Men's Challenge 15/16 Place
• 16:20 Men's Challenge 13/14 Place
• 16:42 Men's Challenge 11/12 Place
• 17:04 Men's Challenge Final (ranking 9th and 10th)
• 17:31 Women's Championship 7/8 Place
• 17:53 Women's Championship 5/6 Place
• 18:15 Men's Championship 7/8 Place
• 18:37 Men's Championship 5/6 Place
• 19:01 Women's Championship Bronze Final
• 19:25 Men's Championship Bronze Final
• 20:17 Women's Championship Final
• 20:54 Men's Championship Final