Following the cancellation of the Lunar New Year fireworks and other international events scheduled to be held in Hong Kong in the first quarter of 2021, the 2021 Cathay Pacific / HSBC Hong Kong Sevens will be postponed from April until November. The Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU), in tandem with World Rugby which oversees the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, has agreed to postpone the competition to 5-7 November 2021.
Originally slated for 3-5 April 2021, the organizers believe rescheduling to late 2021 offers the best opportunity for the tournament to be staged to the high standards of the HKRU. It would have been one of the very few rugby sevens competitions leading into the also-postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (for marketing purposes they are retaining the name Tokyo 2020), now rescheduled for 23 July – 8 August 2021.
The postponement allows World Rugby to perfect a COVID-19 bubble or protocol model that will have to be employed at Tokyo 2020. Many of the World Series rugby teams will also be competing in Tokyo.
