Asian Teams Brace For HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series 2023 Leg 2

All five Asian teams in South Africa enter the final round of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series 2023 Leg 2 in Stellenbosch knowing what is at stake, and like all 24 teams, have had minimal recovery time before play gets underway from 28-30 April at Markötter Stadium in Stellenbosch.

The Chinese Women’s and Hong Kong China Men’s 7s teams both still have chances to win the tw0-leg series but know that results will need to go their way and they can’t afford any slip-ups.

The winner of the women’s competition in South Africa will gain automatic promotion to next season’s HSBC World Rugby Series while the men’s winner will gain a spot in a four-team play-off with the 13-15^th placed teams on the series to decide the single-entry for the next season.

Currently, Tonga is the front-runner for the men after their dominant display in the first leg, while South African Women have the advantage but know full well any of the top four teams could beat each other on the day.

South Africa and Thailand women – 7s rugby – Challenger Series 2023

Thai women should be satisfied with their 6th place but perhaps not with their final match last weekend, but they are also aware when they click they can threaten any team.

Meanwhile the ninth-placed finish in week one for the Hong Kong, China women means although they are out of Core Series contention, this is a fantastic opportunity to gain much-valued international competitive experience ahead of the Asian Rugby Sevens Series and Asian Games later this year. Some of the players head straight to Amsterdam after the Series to join the XV squad!

Hong Kong Sevens head coach Paul John has made three changes as he looks to give as many players experience as possible.  Rosanna Wright, Chloe Baltazar and Agnes Tse make way for Shanna Forrest, Sabay Lynam, and Chong Ka-yan – her first action since November 2022.

HKRU Coach Paul John said “Ka-yan has recovered from injury and while we don’t plan on asking too much of her, she brings a lot of speed on the wing for us and a lot of experience. Hopefully, she can add edge to our attack a bit.  We just want to keep building from the opening tournament. We won the last three games in a row, so we want to keep seeing that progression and build on what we did on days two and three last week. Our defence was much better, we had more urgency in defence, and that in turn helped our attack, so we just want to keep improving.”

South Korea Men’s Sevens Squad will look for improvements at the HSBC World Rugby Challenger Series II (April 28-30)

The Hong Kong China team find themselves in Pool F alongside the Chinese and Paul said “Playing China is important in the build-up to what’s coming in September [Asian Games].  We need to learn from playing them. We have struggled over the last few years and don’t quite perform to our best against them and we need to change that,” added John.

Hong Kong Men are in third and have been drawn in Pool C with fourth-placed Belgium, Zimbabwe, and Papua New Guinea, who finished 9^th and 10^th respectively in Stellenbosch.  Hong Kong beat Papua New Guinea 26-5 and edged Belgium 26-21 last weekend.

Coach Jevon Groves has made two key changes for tournament two with captain Max Woodward and winger Salom Yiu Kam-shing both being rested. Callum McCullough and Harry Sayers come into the playing squad and Russell Webb will captain the squad with Seb Brien as vice-captain.

Groves added “Max and Salom are two really important players for us in every tournament, but they have had a lot of rugby of late and we also need them for the Asian series and Asian Games…..there is a massive amount of experience in the senior leadership group.  We have two really good replacements coming in. The rest of the squad is looking ok. We have had a positive week and the guys are looking forward to that first game on Friday,” added Groves.

For the second leg and knowing what is needed he added: “Our focus is on us, and putting our defence right in particular, and that is something we have been focusing on in practice. We will measure our success this weekend on our defence and not conceding as many points as we did in the opener.

We had some really tough reflections on the Monday after the first tournament, and we challenged the boys on their approach and attitude, but we have drawn a line under that performance. We can’t focus on the Series outcomes now, because it relies on the results from other teams. We can just go out and put some pride in our performance and capitalize on that opportunity to improve from week one.”

The South Korean men in Pool B will look for improved performances and hopefully results, after only managing a solitary win last weekend.

All of the fixtures can be seen here for Leg 2 of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series 2023.

Hong Kong, China Men’s Sevens Squad for HSBC World Rugby Challenger Series II (April 28-30)

Russell WEBB (Capt.); Seb BRIEN (vice captain); James CHRISTIE; Michael COVERDALE; Max DENMARK; Liam HERBERT; Callum McCULLOUGH; Alex McQUEEN; Pierce MACKINLAY-WEST; MAK Kwai-chung; Alessandro NARDONI; Harry SAYERS; Hugo STILES.

Image Credit: HKRU

Hong Kong, China Women’s Sevens Squad for HSBC World Rugby Challenger Series II (April 28-30 2023)

Natasha OLSON-THORNE (Co-Capt); Melody LI Nim-yan (Co-Capt.); Maggie AU YEUNG Sin-Yi; Micayla BALTAZAR; Chloe CHAN; CHAN Chor-ki, Stephanie; CHONG Ka-yan; Shanna FORREST; Jessica HO Wai-on; NAM Ka-man; Gabriella RIVERS; Georgia RIVERS, Sabay Lynam.

Image Credit: HKRU

We have yet to see any team announcements from South Korea, China, or Thailand.

Challenger Sevens Rugby 2023 News

• Challenger Sevens Series 2023 Leg 2 Pools.
• First Leg of Challenger 7s Series 2023 Results.
• World Rugby and SARU – Demonstrate a Lack of Respect to Challenger 7s Teams.
• Asian Teams Stumble – Organisers Drop The Ball On Opening Day of Challenger 7s 2023.