The 2021 Dubai Sevens was held as two

rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

tournaments on consecutive weekends in late November and early December that year. They were played as the fifty-first season of the

Dubai Sevens The Dubai 7s is an annual rugby sevens and social event held at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai, UAE. Founded in 1970, the event is the longest running sports event in the Middle East. Events The Dubai 7s has six competitions each year: * World ...

, following the cancellation of the 2020 tournament due to the

impact of the COVID-19 pandemic The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, a global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV‑2), have been broad, affecting general society, the global economy, culture ...

. These events in Dubai were the opening tournaments of the 2021–22 World Rugby Sevens Series. Due to ongoing impacts of the pandemic, the first event was played behind closed doors on 26–27 November 2021, with no spectators allowed. The second event was played on 3–4 December in front of full crowds. As only twelve men's teams instead of the usual sixteen competed in 2021 at Dubai, the Olympic format of three pools with four teams in each was used for both tournaments. The Sevens stadium in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

provided two fields for use in these events, which allowed matches in overlapping time slots to be played.

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

won back-to-back titles in Dubai, defeating the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in the final of the first tournament and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in the final of the second tournament.

Format

The twelve teams at each tournament were drawn into three pools of four teams each. A round-robin was held for each pool, where every team played each of the other three in their pool once. The top two teams from each pool, plus the two best third-placed on comparative pool standings, advanced to the Cup quarterfinals to compete for tournament honours. The other teams from each pool went to the challenge playoffs for ninth to twelfth place.

Teams

The twelve national men's teams competing at both tournaments in Dubai were: * * * * * * * * * * * * Core teams eligible to play but not participating at Dubai were: * England, Scotland and Wales, who were represented by Great Britain for the first two tournaments of the 2021–22 Series, before competing again as separate national unions for the remainder of the series. * New Zealand and Samoa, who did not participate in Dubai due to the challenges of COVID-19 travel logistics.

Dubai: Event I

The first tournament was held with no crowd in attendance at The Sevens stadium in Dubai on 26–27 November 2021. South Africa won the tournament, defeating United States by 42–7 in the final. All times in UAE Standard Time ( UTC+4:00). The pools were scheduled as follows: Key: Team advanced to the quarterfinals

Pool A – Event I

Pool B – Event I

Pool C – Event I

9th to 12th playoffs – Event I

5th to 8th playoffs – Event I

Cup playoffs – Event I

Placings – Event I

Source
World Rugby

Dubai: Event II

The second tournament was played with spectators in attendance at The Sevens stadium in Dubai on 3–4 December 2021. South Africa won the tournament, defeating Australia by 10–7 in the final. All times in UAE Standard Time ( UTC+4:00). The pools were scheduled as follows: Key: Team advanced to the quarterfinals

Pool A – Event II

Pool B – Event II

Pool C – Event II

9th to 12th playoffs – Event II

5th to 8th playoffs – Event II

Cup playoffs – Event II

Placings – Event II