The opening round of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 kicked off at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday, with all teams playing their first two pool matches of the competition.
The men’s event saw some intensely competitive matches and close scorelines as Germany, Chile, Samoa and Canada, claimed two wins each to ensure their safe passage to the semi-finals.
In the women’s tournament, there were flying starts for South Africa, Argentina, Colombia and Kenya, who all finished top of their logs on day one with a pair of victories to secure spots for Sunday’s semi-finals.
The action continues from 10:00 local time (GMT+2) on Sunday, with place play-offs and both men’s and women’s finals.
The first two rounds of the Challenger replicate the competition format used at the recent HSBC SVNS Cape Town tournament in December 2024. This sees the four pool winners progress directly to contest the semi-finals, while second-placed teams will play for fifth to eighth places and teams finishing third in their pools will compete for ninth to twelfth positions.
The Challenger series begins with back-to-back events in Cape Town, with the top-ranked eight men’s and women’s teams progressing to the third and final tournament at the Henryk Reyman’s Municipal Stadium in Krakow on 11-12 April.
The four men’s and women’s teams with the most cumulative points gained across the three Challenger rounds will then qualify for the HSBC SVNS Play Off in Los Angeles on 3 – 4 May, where they will face the bottom four ranked teams from HSBC SVNS 2025 in a high-stakes promotion and relegation tournament with four coveted places in future SVNS at stake.
The Challenger was introduced in February 2020 to boost the development of rugby sevens across the globe and provide a clear promotion pathway to reach the top level of global rugby sevens for the short format of the game, which has experienced massive growth over the past two decades since the introduction of the global sevens series and becoming an Olympic sport at the Rio 2016 Games.
All teams qualified for the HSBC Sevens Challenger via their respective regional competitions.
Fans around the globe can watch the action on rugbypass.tv or via domestic broadcast partners.
World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 dates:
Cape Town, South Africa | 1-2 March
Cape Town, South Africa | 7-8 March
Krakow, Poland | 11-12 April
Los Angeles, USA | 3-4 May
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