Los Angeles set for epic HSBC SVNS World Championship and Play Off

HSBC SVNS 2025 reaches its exciting climax this weekend as the HSBC SVNS World Championship and SVNS Play Off competitions take place in Los Angeles on 3-4 May

Los Angeles is set to host an enthralling climax to the international rugby sevens season as the HSBC SVNS 2025 champions will be crowned

The world’s best 32 teams will be in action in LA with the top eight men’s and women’s teams competing in the HSBC SVNS World Championship and the next best eight teams in the SVNS Play Off

New Zealand women and Argentina men will be looking to back-up the HSBC SVNS League Winners titles they claimed in Singapore, while Olympic bronze medal winning USA women will be hoping to cheer home crowd

The event takes place at Dignity Health Sports Park, which will host the LA 2028 Olympic rugby sevens competition

The action kicks off at 10:00 local time (GMT-7) on Saturday and fans around the world can find out where to watch here

Remaining tickets are available from $49 here

HSBC SVNS 2025 reaches its exciting climax this weekend as the HSBC SVNS World Championship and SVNS Play Off competitions take place in Los Angeles on 3-4 May.

Dignity Health Sports Park – the venue for the Olympic Games LA 2028 rugby sevens competition – will host what promises to be a thrilling spectacle as the top eight ranked men’s and women’s teams battle to become HSBC SVNS Champions.

All 32 squads were presented to fans during a welcome ceremony at LA Live on Wednesday as anticipation for the season finale reached fever pitch in the Olympic host city.

New Zealand women and Argentina men will be looking to back-up the HSBC SVNS League Winners titles they claimed in Singapore at the sixth and final regular season round in April.

POOLS & FIXTURES >>

The World Championship competition format involves two pools of four teams each with the top two teams in each pool reaching Sunday’s semi-finals. The pools, which are based on HSBC SVNS rankings, were confirmed at the conclusion of the last event in Singapore.

Women’s pool A sees Olympic champions New Zealand together with silver medallists Canada, as well as Japan and Great Britain. Reigning SVNS Champions Australia are in pool B with France, the hosts and Olympic bronze medallists USA and Fiji.

Australia women’s captain Isabella Nasser said: “Leading into LA we’ve had a pretty disruptive preparation for the past couple of tournaments, but we’ve been in really good stead preparing for this tournament and we’re really looking forward to performing this weekend.

“With this competition format every match is like a final. We’ve got a pretty tough pool with some pretty competitive teams, and when it’s cut down to eight teams, it lifts the level of the competition even more.”

“The next three years will be so exciting leading into the 2028 Olympics in LA, and it’s almost like you can already feel the buzz around this incredible city. So we’re really looking forward to it.”

In men’s pool A SVNS league winners Argentina will face South Africa, Olympic champions France and Great Britain. Singapore victors Fiji are in pool B with Spain, Australia and New Zealand.

Captain of reigning SVNS champions France Paulin Riva said: “It will be a big challenge for us. We have a new team with some young players, so we want to grow up during this weekend and try to catch the gold again.

“In the World Championship each game is against a big team like Argentina, Fiji, New Zealand or others, so we need to play with lot of precision, a lot of confidence and a lot of pressure.”

SQUADS >>

Alongside the World Championship event in Los Angeles, the SVNS Play Off competition sees the teams ranked ninth to twelfth in HSBC SVNS 2025 compete with the top four ranked teams from the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger.

Hosts the USA are in men’s pool A with Kenya, Portugal and Samoa. Pool B sees Uruguay take on Ireland, Germany and Canada.

Women’s pool A features Brazil, Spain, Kenya and Colombia, while China, Ireland, South Africa and Argentina are in pool B.

The excitement surrounding this year’s event is further heightened by the presence of Olympic medallists and rising stars from around the globe. This blend of experience and youth adds to the unpredictability of the tournament, ensuring an action-packed weekend of rugby sevens.

USA’s bronze medal winning women will be looking to engage and inspire the crowd with a big performance on home turf and head coach Emilie Bydwell said: “With this being both the final tournament of the season and our home stop, we’ve spent the past few weeks zeroing in on our team identity — the Highwomen. That identity is rooted in alignment around a common purpose, and we’re drawing inspiration from the opportunity to inspire the communities we represent. Our goal is to embody the values of the USA Women’s 7s program and deliver performances that reflect who we are — performances that we, and our supporters, can be proud of. This is the first year of a new cycle and the beginning of building something special with this team.”

Sri Lanka Storm into Top Tier with Dominant Win Over Malaysia

Two-time Rugby World Cup winner and three-time World Rugby Player of the Year Dan Carter was in attendance at HSBC SVNS Singapore where he commented on the upcoming HSBC SVNS World Championship event: “I like it. In the rugby calendar it’s nice to have something to work towards and then high-pressure situations. You see it in a lot of other sports as well; you compete in a series and then you have your champion at the end and then you go into a finals series. It just brings that element of edge and excitement and things can happen.

“Look at last year, how dominant Argentina was throughout the Series and then France, they just came and were victorious in Madrid. Once again, Argentina have dominated and it doesn’t guarantee that they’re going to go to LA and win. It’s all on the line and I’m really enjoying the format of the Series.”

The two-day event kicks off at 10:00 local time (GMT-7) on Saturday with pool matches. The women’s and men’s finals will bring down the curtain on Sunday at 17:05 and 17:41 respectively.

Fans can watch the HSBC SVNS action wherever you are in the world, either via broadcast partners or on www.RugbyPassTV.

WHERE TO WATCH INFO >>

For fans in Los Angeles, remaining tickets are available from $49 here.

Following an action-packed season, World Rugby has revealed the shortlist for three categories of the HSBC SVNS Awards 2025: Rookie of the Year, Try of the Year, and Player of the Year, with the winners set to be presented at the final showdown in Los Angeles on Sunday, 4 May.

HSBC SVNS AWARDS NOMINEES >>

For more information visit www.svns.com