It was earlier announced that the HSBC Sevens World Series would begin on the Gold Coast in Australia.

Port Elizabeth will replace George, which had previously hosted the South African leg of the Series.

IRB chairman Bernard Lapasset was excited at the prospect of the new venues, saying: "These are exciting times for Rugby Sevens across every continent.

"We are seeing record participation, attendance and broadcast figures and now there is unprecedented interest in hosting an HSBC Sevens World Series event.

"Today's announcement represents an exciting new chapter in South Africa's long-standing commitment to sevens rugby and the HSBC Sevens World Series.

"On behalf of the global rugby family I would like to thank the city and the people of George for hosting South Africa's event for nine years, and helping it to grow.

"We now look forward to the Sevens in a wonderful new stadium in Port Elizabeth and wish the organisers every success."

The Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium will host the Port Elizabeth leg of the series, with tournament organisers anticipating significant interest and ticket sales.

Jurie Roux, the SARU chief executive, said: "I am delighted to be able to confirm that Port Elizabeth will host the Emirates Airlines South Africa Sevens for the next four years.

"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.

"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 Panel was convinced that Port Elizabeth will produce an absolutely outstanding tournament, based on this document.

"I'm looking forward to attending the first Port Elizabeth Sevens in December – I'm sure they're going to take the event to another level."

The Leopards, Pumas, South Western Districts and Western Province had also bid to join the Series.

Cheeky Watson, President of the Eastern Province Kings, added: "We prepared an outstanding tender to deliver an outstanding tournament and that's what we're going to do.

"Port Elizabeth and the whole of the Eastern Cape will be very excited about this decision and we can now begin to mobilise to deliver a memorable experience for the international Rugby family.

"I'd like to thank the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality for their assistance in preparing the bid and advise my team that the hard work starts today."

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