South African Cornal Hendricks swoops through the Kiwi defence at the Gold Coast Sevens. Photo: IRB
Today marks the start of the 50-day countdown to the Nelson Mandela Bay South Africa Sevens, round three of the HSBC Sevens World Series on 8–9 December.
The tournament takes place one week after the second round of the Series in Dubai and follows on from the inaugural event in PE last year, which proved a roaring success.
This year the South Africa tournament has moved to a Saturday-Sunday format and tickets went on sale last Thursday through www.computicket.com.
“It is unbelievable that we are only 50 days away from the second Nelson Mandela Bay SA Sevens tournament in Port Elizabeth,” said SARU CEO, Jurie Roux. “Our local organising committee, comprising of SARU the Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism and Metro as well as EP Rugby staff are working around the clock to deliver another world-class tournament.
“This year we have moved the tournament to a weekend format and managed to keep ticket prices unchanged, so we hope that these two factors will help us to draw capacity crowds on both days. Our aim is to attract 80 000 fans and to establish this tournament as one of the top events on the World Series calendar.
“Our marketing team has secured some top-class performers for our Saturday concert and fans will be able to meet the Springbok Sevens and members of the other participating teams during open training and signing sessions. I would therefore like to urge fans to book their tickets early to avoid disappointment,” explained Roux.
Skinstad: “Top class”
Tournament Ambassador, Bobby Skinstad, admits he cannot wait for the arrival of Rugby’s Biggest Party, which promises to be even bigger this year.
“Port Elizabeth is known as the Friendly City and I know that the Metro, stadium management and PE fans are all geared up to make this tournament another memorable experience,” he said.
“International Sevens rugby always delivers top-class viewing and entertainment and I know that supporters will be in for another amazing experience on 8 – 9 December.
“This will also be the first time that we will host the PE Tens, which is a really exciting concept.
South Africa’s Blitzbokke finished third at the Gold Coast Sevens, after losing their only match of the weekend to eventual winners, Fiji, in the semi finals.
Round two of the World Series takes place on 30 November – 1 December in Dubai.
* IRB
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