Game Results on Day One
Twelve women’s teams competed in the HSBC Challenger Series Round One, which took place in South Africa over the weekend, March 1-2. Only eight will make it to the next round of the tournament, which will take place on April 11-12 after the weekend of March 8-9.
Kenya 20 – 5 Samoa
Uganda 7 – 24 Colombia
Thailand 41 – 0 Mexico
Czechia 26 – 19 Hong Kong China
Poland 31 – 19 Samoa
Belgium 17 – 22 Colombia
Argentina 60 – 0 Mexico
South Africa 36 – 0 Hong Kong China
Poland 7 – 29 Kenya
Belgium 5 – 29 Uganda
Argentina 22 – 7 Thailand
South Africa 26 – 0 Czechia
Kenya emerged on top in pool D with two wins against Poland and Samoa, while Argentina also finished at the top of its group, beating Thailand and Mexico. The hosts, South Africa, had a great run on day one, securing two wins to lead pool A, while Colombia led group C with two wins over Uganda and Belgium.
Day Two
Day Two was filled with placement games to determine which teams would stay in South Africa for the coming weekend. The top teams in each group played against each other in the semifinals, with Colombia facing Argentina and South Africa facing Kenya.
Ninth Place Semifinals
Mexico 0 – 48 Belgium
Hong Kong China 29 – 17 Samoa
Eleventh Place Playoff
Mexico 12 – 31 Samoa
Ninth Place Playoff
Belgium 19 – 12 Hong Kong China
Fifth Place Semifinals
Thailand 19 – 17 Uganda
Czechia 5 – 41 Poland
Seventh Place Playoff
Uganda 19 – 21 Czechia
Fifth Place Playoff
Thailand 28 – 17 Poland
Semifinals
South Africa 15 – 19 Kenya
Argentina 10 – 5 Colombia
Third Place Playoff
Colombia 0 – 29 South Africa
Finals
Kenya 17 – 12 Argentina
Kenya Lionesses finished round one of the tournament with an unbeaten run.
Table Standings
Kenya
Argentina
South Africa
Colombia
Thailand
Poland
Czechia
Uganda
Belgium
Hong Kong China
Samoa
Mexico
Round Two
South Africa, Cape Town will continue to host Round Two of the HSBC Challenger Series, which will take place on March 7 – 8. It will be the battle for the toughest as the challenger series are games played by elite top rugby sevens teams across the globe. The teams will be battling to secure a place in the top eight positions to move on to Poland for the third round in April.
