Rugby World Cup Sevens

Rugby World Cup sevens action resumes for the first time since 1997 in Port of Spain, Trinidad on January 22-23 with eight teams competing in a pre-qualifying Caribbean Zone tournament for the 2001 finals, in Mar del Plata, Argentina. The competing teams will be Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago with the winners going through to the Americas qualifying event being hosted by Chile in March. Argentina’s 2001 RWC Sevens, January 27-29, sees the host union seeded through along with the top eight teams from the 1997 Hong Kong tournament – winners Fiji, Australia, England, France, Korea, New Zealand, Samoa and South Africa. The Rugby World Cup directors will finalise a world-wide schedule of qualifying tournaments to fill the remaining 15 places in the finals later this month. They have already decided to adopt a regional format for the qualifiers with tournaments in Africa, South America, Asia, Oceania and Europe (two). According to IRB Chief Executive Officer Stephen Baines, 91 national unions, the full membership of the IRB, will have an opportunity to be involved in RWC Sevens 2001, either as seeded finalists or in the qualifying tournaments taking place between January and June. “This is a significant increase over participation in RWC Sevens 1997 and reflects the continuing growth in our membership,” he said. For further information please contact the IRB Press Office Peter McMullan Manager, Media and Promotions Tel:+353 1 662 5444 Fax:+353 1 676 9334 IRB Website: www.irfb.com