HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025
South Africa is hosting the first two rounds of the HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 series at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town. The first-round games will occur on March 1st and 2nd, while the second-round games will be held on March 7th and 8th. This is the initial stage of the HSBC series, during which teams will be selected to progress to the next level. This year’s HSBC series consists of three rounds, with two occurring in South Africa. In April, the third round will take place in Krakow, Poland, at Henryk Reyman’s municipal stadium. In May, the teams that advance from the challenger series will compete in the HSBC SVNS Playoff tournament in Los Angeles, USA.
Participating Teams
This year’s challenger series has twelve women’s teams participating in the tournament. The teams are Kenya, Samoa, Uganda, Colombia, Thailand, Mexico, Czech, Hong Kong, China, Poland, Belgium, Argentina, and the hosts South Africa. The South African team, Bok Women Sevens, has a huge task at hand, hosting some of the finest teams from across different rugby regions. The team lost its status core last year and this is the starting journey for them to climb back into the ranks of HSBC SVNS.
Competition Format
The two rounds in Cape Town will be the selection games, from which the top eight women’s teams will progress to the next stage, Krakow. The tournament will be based on cumulative points. At the games in Krakow, the teams will further narrow down to only four. These four will proceed to Los Angeles to battle against the bottom four core teams: Brazil, Ireland, China and Spain.
Games Schedule
Round 1
Saturday, March 1
Kenya vs. Samoa
Uganda vs. Colombia
Thailand vs. Mexico
Czech vs. Hong Kong China
Poland vs. Samoa
Belgium vs. Colombia
Argentina vs. Mexico
South Africa vs. Hong Kong China
Poland vs. Kenya
Belgium vs. Uganda
Argentina vs. Thailand
South Africa vs. Czech
Gameday two, March 2, will be a placement game for the different teams. Teams will compete against each other based on their first-day performance.
