“The health and safety of participating teams, tournament event staff and spectators is our highest priority,” World Rugby said in a statement.

“This proactive decision has been taken to help protect the global rugby community and the wider public and was taken based on the World Health Organisation and relevant public authority travel and health guidelines.

“The decision is fully supported by stakeholders, including unions and commercial partners.”

The South African Women’s Sevens team were due to compete with teams from Argentina, Belgium, China, Colombia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Poland and Scotland.

Further details in relation to the rearrangement of the Stellenbosch women’s HSBC World Rugby Challenger Series event will be communicated in due course.