Sevens to open World Cup 2009 against Japan

The Springbok Sevens will kick-off their Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 challenge against Japan on 5 March, according to the playing schedule announced today by the International Rugby Board.

11 Feb 2009

The three day world rugby festival will see a total of 98 matches played on back to back pitches at the newly built The Sevens venue, with the men's and women's matches taking place across both pitches.

Wales and Zimbabwe gets the men's action underway on 5 March with the opening game in Pool F.

South Africa's match against Italy, the twelfth game on the opening day's fixture list, starts at 18h38 (SA time) and the following day the Springbok Sevens will be in action against Canada and Scotland.

The quarter-finals, semi-finals and Bowl, Plate and Cup finals will all be played on match day three, 7 March.

The South African women start their campaign on 6 March against Italy and this is followed by two more encounters on the same day, against fellow African qualifiers Uganda and New Zealand.

The SA fixtures are (all SA times, 2 hours behind Dubai):

Men (Pool C)

Day 1 (March 5), SA vs. Japan (18h38)

Day 2 (March 6), SA vs. Canada (10h06); SA vs. Scotland (pitch two, 15h58)

Day 3 (March 7), Quarter- and Semi-finals, Finals

Women (Pool D)

Day 1 (March 6), SA vs. Italy (10h50), SA vs. Uganda (13h46), New Zealand vs. SA (16h42)

Day 2 (March 7), Quarter- and Semi-finals, Finals

Please visit www.irb.com for the full list of fixtures for the women and men teams and also visit the home of SA Rugby on the internet at www.sarugby.co.za for updated SA Rugby Sevens news.