Chile and Kenya win opening round of World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger in Cape Town

Day two highlights of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger in Cape Town

Chile and Kenya were crowned men’s and women’s champions, respectively, at the opening round of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 in Cape Town.

Chile overcame Canada 33-7 in the men’s final, while Kenya beat Argentina 17-12 in an intense women’s final.

Germany’s men’s team and South Africa’s women’s team earned third place on the podium.

Cape Town will host the second round of the HSBC Sevens Challenger on 7-8 March with the same participating teams.

The top eight 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 high stakes HSBC SVNS Play-Off in Los Angeles on 3-4 May and an opportunity to gain promotion.

At the end of two days of intense, high-quality competition, Chile men and Kenya women took top honours at the opening round of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 in Cape Town.

Like Kenya’s men’s side, who achieved promotion to HSBC SVNS 2025 via the Challenger, Kenya’s women got off to the perfect start with victory in round 1.

Kenya’s women beat South Africa 15-19 in the semi-final, while Chile’s men reached the final thanks to a 31-14 win over Samoa. Chile was a dominant force in the men’s competition and claimed gold with a 33-7 win over Canada in the final.

Germany’s men’s side recovered from a semi-final defeat to claim the bronze medal with a 19-14 defeat of Samoa. South Africa’s women convincingly beat Colombia with 0-29 for third place.
Argentina and Canada were impressive throughout the weekend and claimed the silver.

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Chile men’s captain Lucca Avelli was delighted with the win: “We’ve put a lot of work in over the last year, and I’m very proud of the group. This win is really great. Our goal is to get HSBC SVNS, and we won’t stop until we get there.

Amid ecstatic celebrations in front of a contingent of supporters, Kenya captain Grace Okulu said: “This victory is nice because we’ve never won a Challenger series. It is a milestone for us. I’m happy for the team, and I’m delighted for everyone who supports us. We must carry on with the momentum and prepare hard for the next series this coming weekend. It has been an amazing journey for us and we are happy that things are working out for us.”

The Challenger series starts 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.

Fans around the globe can watch the action on rugbypass.tv or via domestic broadcast partners.