RUGBY Americas North (RAN), in conjunction with Federación Mexicana de Rugby, announced yesterday that the 2022 RAN Super 7s next month in Mexico City has been postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic.

The tournament was scheduled for February 11-13.

“After discussions with RAN’s Medical Committee and the Mexican Rugby Federation, it is with regret that RAN has made the decision to postpone the RAN Super 7s scheduled for February 2022 in Mexico City,” said RAN General Manager Niall Brooks. “We are taking a precautionary measure as the Omicron variant continues to surge around the globe.”

Dubbed the ‘Super 7s’, the two-day tournament was set to be the biggest event in RAN’s history with more than 25 teams competing across three divisions on two fields.

The tournament also acted as a qualifier for the Centro Caribe Games in 2022, RWC Sevens qualifiers in June 2022 and the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England in 2022.

“The decision was made with the welfare of all participating players, management, officials, volunteers, and spectators in mind. RAN hopes to re-schedule the tournament to a later date in 2022,” added Brooks.

At the last RAN Sevens, held last October, Guyana’s ‘Green Machine’ finished fifth in their quest for an eighth title, and captain Jamal Angus had told local media operatives the main attention was fixed on this tournament, given the stakes.

Guyana started their campaign with a 36-5 win over Belize, but then lost 15-7 to Bermuda.

Moving to the medal aspect of the championship, they lost to eventual winners, Jamaica 24-0 and Barbados 26-5 before crushing the British Virgin Islands 43-0 in the fifth-place playoff.