Australia dominated the 2019 Oceania Sevens. Photo: Oceania Rugby
The 2020 Oceania Sevens Championship is the latest sporting tournament to be cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The announcement follows confirmation last week that the Sydney and Hamilton legs of the World Sevens Series have also been axed.
Oceania Rugby General Manager Bruce Cook said scrapping the November tournament was unfortunate but the right decision, with the health and well-being of the players, officials and public their top priority.
Australia completed a clean sweep of the men’s and women’s Oceania titles in Suva last year, with the Australian men and Fiji women sealing qualification to the now delayed Tokyo Olympics.
The Fiji women’s sevens team celebrate qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Photo: Oceania Rugby
As well as competing for regional glory, the Oceania Sevens is an important opportunity for smaller nations to earn a place in World Series qualifying tournaments, while the big guns use it as final preparation for the Dubai Sevens, which has also been cancelled.
Samoa, Tonga and Papua New Guinea are scheduled to compete in the final Olympic repechage events in the first half of next year and Oceania and World Rugby are exploring the possibility of additional regional competitions to ensure teams have an appropriate amount of high-level competition opportunities.
Source: RNZ
