New Zealand Rugby may give up hosting a leg of the Sevens world series in the wake of disappointing crowd turnout at the latest Wellington tournament.
There were much smaller crowds at this year's Sevens tournament. Photo: Photosport
Only 20,000 people in total turned for the two days of the latest tournament, which New Zealand rugby general manager Nigel Cass said did not make for a viable tournament.
He said a review of the tournament over the next few weeks would consider whether a new host city needs to be found, or whether New Zealand would give up hosting the event altogether.
"We are not going to rule anything in or out. We didn't have enough people there and so the fundamental question we've got address in assessing options...is what do we think we can do in getting people to the event?," he said
"It might be that the people have spoken and it's really tough to change," said Cass.
He said the review would include feedback from organisations, such as World Rugby and the Wellington City Council. A decision on the tournament's future would be made by mid-March.
However Cass said they were not simply going to give up on the tournament.
"You don't just walk away from 18 years (of a tournament) which on the whole has been a phenomenal success, without look under every rock."
