World Rugby and SARU – Demonstrate a Lack of Respect to Challenger 7s Teams

The organisers of the Challenger Sevens Series in South Africa  – the South Africa Rugby Union and World Rugby – have a lot to answer for however after showing disrespect to the Challenger 7s teams with the shambolic organising of the live feeds, the inability to provide live score updates and other issues seriously hampered any enjoyment for fans trying to support the 24 teams playing on the opening day of the Series in Stellenbosch.

Lack of Respect to Challenger 7s Teams

This is just the first of two tournaments to determine the 12 men’s and women’s teams which take part in next season’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, and there is a lot for the governing body and SARU to address, but mainly the impression they have given of simply not valuing the teams below the top-tier of rugby.

And it was not just us complaining, tweets and social media shock at how poorly the competition was treated on the opening day came from all corners of the globe as the opportunity for Tier-two nations (a term World Rugby does not like) to showcase themselves was seriously soured.

There have been no apologies or explanations from SARU or World Rugby by the time of publishing*

Here is a selection of comments online:

• “Nah. World Rugby & SARU, you didn’t even try. Quality of streaming, graphics, commentary of the Challenger Series in Chile (vid 1) last year was excellent & we expected similar/better from South Africa this year, but look at the rubbish you’ve shown the world today” (Twitter KoyoKoyo)
• “From what we hear there are significant security problems at the venue for the WorldRugby7s
  Challenger. Reports that equipment may have been stolen, a lack of electricity, etc. And another 5 days to go yet – hopefully things can be improved (could hardly be worse) (Twitter ScrumQueens).

• This is the importance given to WorldRugby7s by WorldRugby to the tournament in South Africa. Results without updating and a Stream without markers or any type of information. (Rugby Femenino)
• No decent streaming and coverage, low updating score website, awful rugby pitches…you really are not taking seriously 7s growing, driving rugby followers and fans away with this kind of display. (Twitter Soñador Realista)

With the second day commencing and a long list of allegations and rumours, we will see what transpires for the remainder of the event and the second one which kicks off next week. These allegations include:

• No World Rugby representation on the ground.
• World Rugby Media team members are on holiday during the event.
• Possible theft at the grounds of the Markotter Stadium in Stellenbosch, South Africa which caused the outages and lack of equipment for the live feeds.
• Poor playing fields.
• Power issues meant the opening round of fixtures could not be streamed.
• No commentary or scores on live feeds (or live scores during day#1).
• Of the two streams one feed did not work while the second feed was often poor. By the end of the day, all streams were down due to server issues.

Challenger 7s 2023 Streaming issues soured the first day for the fans

Challenger Sevens Rugby 2023 News

• Hong Kong China Men 7s Team Aim To Break Sevens Challenger Series Hoodoo.
• Full Guide to World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series 2023.
• Hong Kong China Women Set for HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series 2023.
• Asian Teams Stumble – Organisers Drop The Ball On Opening Day of Challenger 7s 2023.