HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2019-20 Cape Town Sevens: Day Three

The second round of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2019-20 was held at the Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa over 13-15 December 2019. This was the second of ten tournaments for the season.

The fifteen core teams on the 2019-20 season are: Argentina, Australia, Canada, England, Fiji, France, Ireland, Kenya, New Zealand, Samoa, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, USA and Wales. Ireland became a core team for the first time after they won the 2019-20 World Series Qualifier in Hong Kong earlier in the year. Japan were relegated as the lowest-placed core team in the 2018-19 season. The core teams compete at every tournament, while one place is available to a non-core team at each tournament. Japan were invited as the non-core team at the 2019 Cape Town Sevens.

At Cape Town, Japan were in Pool A along with South Africa, Fiji and the USA. In their pool games, Japan lost 49-0 to South Africa on Thursday, while on Friday they lost 42-0 to the USA and 54-7 to Fiji to finish on the bottom of their pool.

In their placement match on Sunday, Japan beat Wales 19-15 in the Fifteenth Place play-off.

In the Cup Final, New Zealand beat South Africa 7-5, while France beat Fiji 29-24 to take third place. Japan finished in fifteenth place overall in Cape Town.

After two rounds, South Africa and New Zealand head the table on 41 points each from France on 29 points.

The next round of the series is in Hamilton, New Zealand from 25-26 January 2020.

Pools

Pool A Games for Japan

Friday, 13 December 2019
Match No.8 – 20:30: South Africa 49 d Japan 0

Saturday, 14 December 2019
Match No.15 – 13:29: USA 42 d Japan 0
Match No.23 – 19:35: Fiji 54 d Japan 7

Placement Match Result for Japan

Fifteenth Place
Sunday, 15 December 2019
Japan 19 d Wales 15