Chile, Uruguay complete Hong Kong Sevens second-tier line-up
Sri Lanka to compete against the 15 core teams in tournament’s main event
Chile and Uruguay will make up the full complement of 12 regional teams to compete for HSBC Sevens World Series core status at the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens in March.
The two South American teams finished top of their regional competition and were the last two pieces in the jigsaw for the qualifying tournament, which will take place alongside the 16-team World Series tournament to be played at Hong Kong Stadium from March 28-30.
The International Rugby Board also confirmed that Sri Lanka, who finished third in the Asian Sevens Series last year, had been invited to play alongside the 15 core teams in the tournament's main competition.
Chile and Uruguay join Tunisia, Zimbabwe (Africa); Hong Kong, Japan (Asia); Italy, Russia (Europe); American Samoa, Cook Islands (Oceania); and Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago (North American & Caribbean) in the second-tier competition.
The winners of this tournament will become a core team next season.
Relegation from core team status will be decided at the end of the season, with the bottom-ranked of the 15 current core teams dropping out.