The 1999 South Africa Sevens was an annual rugby sevens tournament that took place at the

Danie Craven Stadium The Danie Craven Stadium is a rugby union stadium in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Built in 1979, it is part of the Stellenbosch University's sport facilities. The stadium was named after rugby doyen and Springbok scrum half Danie Craven. The stad ...

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronounc ...

between 10–11 December 1999. It was the first edition of the

South Africa Sevens The South Africa Sevens is an annual rugby sevens tournament that is held in South Africa. It is currently hosted in Cape Town and is part of the Sevens World Series run by World Rugby. A South African leg of the World series has been include ...

with it being the second leg of the

1999–2000 World Sevens Series The 1999–2000 World Sevens Series was the first season of the World Rugby Sevens Series, global circuit for men's national rugby sevens teams, organised by the World Rugby, International Rugby Board (now known as World Rugby). The series ran f ...

. Sixteen teams competed in the tournament and were divided into four groups of four with the top two teams qualifying for the quarter-finals. The hosts,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

were eliminated in the semi-finals before

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

defeated

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

12–10 in the final to win their first sevens title for the series.

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

took home the plate while

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

won the bowl. Stellenbosch only hosted the

tournament for one season and the event moved to

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

for the 2000–01 series.

Teams

Sixteen teams competed in the South Africa Sevens with the

South African Rugby Union The South African Rugby Union (SARU) is the governing body for rugby union in South Africa and is affiliated to World Rugby. It was established in 1992 as the South African Rugby Football Union, from the merger of the South African Rugby Board a ...

inviting eight teams to fill in the draw. These teams were

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

and

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

Format

The pool stage was played on the first day of the tournament. The 16 teams were separated into four groups of four teams and teams in the same pool played each other once. The top two teams in each pool advanced to the Cup quarterfinals to compete for the 1999 South Africa Sevens title.

Summary

The opening day of the tournament saw Fiji setting the pace with the team only conceding ten points (against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

throughout the group stage after comfortably defeating Japan (52–0) and Namibia (56–0) earlier in the day. Dubai champions, New Zealand also won their group despite the slow start over Zimbabwe as they finished ahead over Georgia who had shocked

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in the opening match of Pool B. Morocco who was an unknown in the rugby sevens shocked everyone by topping Pool C defeating Australia in the opening game by sevens points before topping the group with wins over France and Tonga. South Africa finished ahead of

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

in Pool D with the Boks defeating them 12–7 after earlier recordings wins against Kenya and Uruguay. The second day saw Fiji began with a physically demanding victory over Samoa as they would go on to advance to the cup final defeating Georgia in the semi-finals who had earlier defeated Morocco in the quarter-finals 17–0. They went on to meet New Zealand in the final after they defeated Australia in the quarter-finals and the hosts in the semis. After losing

Waisale Serevi Waisale Tikoisolomoni Serevi (born 20 May 1968) is a Fijian former rugby union football player and coach, and is a member of the World Rugby Hall of Fame. Serevi is renowned for his achievements in rugby sevens, while also enjoying a long car ...

through a hand injury, Fiji trailed New Zealand by three points heading into the change over. Filimoni Delasau though would score the match winner as he recorded his 13th try of the tournament and give Fiji the victory 12–10. In the minor placings, Australia defeated Samoa by three points in the plate final with the bowl final being won by Tonga who defeated a fast finishing Argentina squad 31–24.

Pool stage

Pool A

Source
World Rugby
/small> ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Source
World Rugby
/small>

Pool B

Source
World Rugby
/small> ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Source
World Rugby
/small>

Pool C

: Source
World Rugby
/small> ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Source
World Rugby
/small>

Pool D

Source
World Rugby
/small> ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Source
World Rugby
/small>

Finals

Bowl

Source
World Rugby
/small>

Plate

Source
World Rugby
/small>

Cup

Source
World Rugby
/small>

Tournament placings

Source
Rugby7.com
ref name = standings-2000/>

References

{{1999–2000 World Sevens Series South Africa Sevens

Sevens