Venue, pools and fixtures announced for World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 opener

The venue, pools and match schedule for the opening round of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 in Cape Town have been confirmed.

Athlone Stadium in Cape Town will host the first and second rounds of the HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 on 1-2 and 7-8 March featuring 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams

The top eight placed men’s and women’s teams will progress to the third round at the Henryk Reyman’s Municipal Stadium in Krakow on 11-12 April

Top four ranked men’s and women’s teams at end of third round will qualify for the HSBC SVNS Play Off tournament in Los Angeles on 3-4 May

Match schedule and pools unveiled for the opening round

All six World Rugby regions represented in competition designed to boost the global development of rugby sevens

World Rugby has confirmed that Athlone Stadium in Cape Town will host the opening two rounds of the HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 on 1 – 2 and 7 – 8 March.

The pools and match schedule for the opening round are revealed with the 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams representing all six World Rugby regions allocated into four pools of three teams each, based on rankings from previous competitions. All teams have qualified for the Challenger via regional competitions.

A tough looking men’s pool A sees Germany paired with Japan and Georgia. In pool B Chile will face Tonga and Portugal. Rugby sevens heavyweights Samoa line up in pool C together with Uganda and Brazil. Pool D sees Hong Kong China and Madagascar take on Canada who dropped out of HSBC SVNS to the Challenger.

VIEW POOLS AND FIXTURES >>

The women’s competition includes South Africa, Czechia and Hong Kong China in pool A. Argentina head up pool B together with Thailand and Mexico. Pool C sees Belgium, Uganda and Colombia go in to battle. Poland are paired with Samoa and Kenya in pool D.

The first two rounds of the Challenger will replicate the competition format used for 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.

At the conclusion of the second round in Cape Town, the top ranked eight men’s and women’s teams will progress 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.

The action at Athlone Stadium will kick off at 10:00 local time (GMT+2) on Saturday 1 March, with the women’s and men’s finals set for 19:23 and 19:54 respectively on Sunday 2 March.

VIEW CHALLENGER MATCH OFFICIALS >>

The team of 18 Emirates Match Officials from 11 unions who make up the men’s and women’s panels for the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 include nine debutants.