Fans in the stadium and watching around the world were kept on the edge of their seats by the unique ‘winner takes all’ knock-out competition format which means every match counts.
The day started in reflective mood as World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont and Chief Executive Alan Gilpin took to the pitch to lead a period of silence in memory of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, while teams from the United Kingdom and Commonwealth nations paid their respects by wearing black armbands and observing a moments silence before their first matches of the day.
Reigning champions New Zealand enjoyed a successful start to the defence of their crowns. The Black Ferns are also the current women’s Olympic champions and got their Rugby World Cup Sevens campaign under way with a 47-5 win against Colombia, while the All Blacks Sevens started with a resounding 43-5 victory over Scotland in the men’s competition.
Australia’s teams arrived in Cape Town in confident mood having recently claimed both the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2022 titles. The women began with a 48-0 demolition of debutants Madagascar, with five tries from Faith Nathan, while the men overcame Uruguay by a 35-0 scoreline.
Hosts South Africa are top seeds in the men’s competition and produced some scintillating rugby sevens to beat Chile 32-5 to bring joy to the large and exuberant crowd in the last match of the day.
South Africa’s women were beaten 29-0 by France, who were silver medallists at Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 in San Francisco.
Men’s double Olympic champions Fiji were too strong for Wales, winning 29-5 in the 24-team men’s competition.
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The quarter-final line up in the 16 strong women’s competition sees Australia v England, New Zealand v Ireland, France v Fiji and USA v Canada.
In the men’s competition, the quarter-finals are New Zealand v Argentina, France v Australia, Samoa v Fiji, and Ireland v South Africa.
The quarter-finals begin at 19h07 on Saturday with Australia v England in the women’s championship and continue through to Ireland v South Africa in the men’s competition at 22h33 which will bring down the curtain on day two.
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Rugby sevens fans around the world can watch the action via live stream on www.rwcsevens.com in countries where there is no national broadcaster covering the event.
