"VAN" (Sports Desk - 08.03.2025) :: The World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 second round continues at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on Friday, with all teams playing their first two pool matches.
~ Canada, Germany, Japan and Portugal lead the men's competition log with top points.
~ Czechia, South Africa, Uganda and Colombia women finish day one with convincing wins.
~ Second round of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 taking place at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town.
~ The action continues from 10:00 local time (GMT+2) on Saturday.
~ The top eight placed men's and women's teams will progress to the third round in Krakow on 11-12 April.
~ The Challenger provides a promotion pathway to HSBC SVNS, with the top four placed men's and women's teams securing their place in the promotion and relegation play-off in Los Angeles.
~ Fans around the globe can watch the action on rugbypass.tv
Excitement in the second round of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 on Friday kept everyone on the edge of their seats with a lot to play for at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town.
The men's event saw some intensely competitive matches as Canada, Germany, Japan and Portugal claimed two wins each to ensure their safe passage to the semi-finals.
In the women's tournament, there were flying starts for the hosts, South Africa, Czechia, Uganda and Colombia, who all finished top of their logs on day one with a pair of victories to secure spots for Saturday's semi-finals. Uganda beat the round 1 winner, Kenya, in nailbiting extra time.
Canada men's, Germany men's, South Africa women's, and Colombia women's teams qualified for the semi-finals in round 1.
The action continues from 10:00 local time (GMT+2) on Saturday, with place play-offs and both men's and women's finals.
World Rugby Chief Competitions and Performance Officer Nigel Cass reflected on the successful start to the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025: “It’s great to be back in Cape Town. The tournament has kicked off in spectacular fashion, with fantastic rugby played in the sunshine. The quality of all the teams has been outstanding and everybody should just now be looking forward to an incredible weekend.”
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.
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