2020 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series – Men's tour

The 2020 Challenger Series for men's rugby sevens teams was the inaugural season of the second-tier circuit with promotion to the first-tier World Rugby Sevens Series.

The men's tour had sixteen national teams competing and included two Challenger Series events, played in Chile and Uruguay. A final 8-team knockout event had been planned as part of the Hong Kong Sevens tournament to decide the overall winner, but this was postponed and eventually cancelled by World Rugby due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Japan, as the top-placed team on the standings after the two completed events, was awarded the Challenger Series title and promoted to the World Rugby Sevens Series as a core team for the 2020–21 season.

Teams There were 16 men's national teams competing in the Challenger Series for 2020.

Nation Means of qualification Date qualified2019 Sudamérica Rugby Sevens13 January2019 Sudamérica Olympic Qualifier30 June2019 RAN Sevens7 July 2019 Rugby Europe Sevens Grand Prix Series20 July2019 Asia Rugby Sevens Series29 September2019 Oceania Sevens Championship9 November2019 Africa Men's Sevens9 NovemberInvited teams–Total16

Tour venues The official schedule for the 2020 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series was:

+ 2020 Tour VenuesHostStadiumCity DatesWinner Chile Estadio Sausalito Viña del Mar 15–16 February Uruguay Estadio Charrúa Montevideo 22–23 February Hong Kong Hong Kong Stadium Hong Kong N/A

The final qualifying event at the Hong Kong Sevens was originally scheduled to be played in April 2020 but was postponed and eventually cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Standings The official standings for the 2020 Challenger Series are presented in the table below.

+ 2020 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series – Series I Pos Viña del Mar Montevideo Pointstotal 1 17 22 39 2 19 17 36 3 2213 35 4 15 15 30 5 8 19 27 6 13 11 24 7 11 8 19 8 12 7 19 9 6 12 18 10 7 10 17 11 10 6 16 12 5 4 9 13 4 5 9 14 1 3 4 15 2 2 4 16 3 1 4

Source: World Rugby

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:92%; margin-top:25px;" |- !colspan=2| Legend |- |style="background:#BBF3BB;"|Green |Promoted to the 2020–21 World Rugby Sevens Series |- |style="background:#ffc;"|Yellow |Invited team

Notes

Viña del Mar The first event was held in Chile, hosted at Estadio Sausalito in Viña Del Mar on 15–16 February 2020. Germany won the tournament, defeating Hong Kong by 10–0 in the final, to take the maximum 22 points in the series standings leading into the second event at Montevideo.

All times are CLST, Chile Summer Time: (UTC-3).

Key: Team advanced to the quarterfinals

Pool A Team 3 0 0 90 19 +71 9 2 0 1 43 45 −2 7 1 0 2 51 34 +17 5 0 0 3 19 105 −86 3

Pool B Team 3 0 0 76 7 +69 9 2 0 1 34 63 −29 7 1 0 2 43 31 +12 5 0 0 3 22 74 −52 3

Pool C Team 3 0 0 91 29 +62 9 2 0 1 83 33 +50 7 1 0 2 76 63 +13 5 0 0 3 15 140 −1253

Pool D Team 3 0 0 112 26 +86 9 2 0 1 64 53 +11 7 1 0 2 34 79 −45 5 0 0 3 31 83 −52 3

Lower playoffs

13th place

Matches13th place semifinals

13th place final

9th place

Matches9th place quarterfinals

9th place semifinals

9th place final

Title playoffs

5th place

Matches5th place semifinals

5th place final

Cup

MatchesQuarterfinals

Semifinals

3rd place final

Final

Placings

PlaceTeam Points1 222 193 174 155 136 127 118 10

PlaceTeamPoints9 810 711 6 12 5 13 414 315 216 1

Source: portaldorugby

Montevideo The men's tour traveled to Uruguay for the second leg. The Seven Punta tournament, the nation's premier international rugby sevens event, served as the Challenge Series contest. Played since 1989 at the resort city of Punta del Este, the tournament was relocated for the first time to Montevideo for the 2020 edition but kept the Seven Punta name. It was held at Estadio Charrua on 22–23 February 2020. Japan won the tournament, defeating the host nation Uruguay in the final by 5–0 in extra time.

All times are UYT, Uruguay Time: (UTC-3).