PE to host SA Sevens event
Port Elizabeth will host the South African leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series, after coming out as clear winners in a competitive tendering process.
The announcement was made by the South African Rugby Union in Cape Town on Wednesday after the recommendation of a tender committee was accepted by the Saru Executive Council.
The inaugural Port Elizabeth event will be hosted at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in early December this year – and the winning bidders are already forecasting a sold-out event.
“I am delighted to be able to confirm that Port Elizabeth will host the SA Sevens for the next four years,” Jurie Roux, Saru CEO, told a media conference in Cape Town on Wednesday.
“We received some outstanding bids, but the panel came to the unanimous conclusion that the tender provided by the Eastern Province Kings and Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality was a clear winner.
“We measured them against four broad criteria – event hosting capacity; brand building
potential for Sevens and Saru; commercial promise and budgetary viability – and their attention to detail in answering each one was outstanding.
“They not only satisfied the standards that we expected from all the bidders, they went the extra mile to research exactly what players, spectators and other stakeholders require and provided innovative solutions for each one.
The IRB will confirm the dates of the Port Elizabeth event as well as of the rest of the HSBC Sevens World Series for 2011/12 in due course.