China Women Crowned Champions In Dubai – World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024
rugbyasia247
Posted On January 15, 2024
The China women and Kenya men took the spoils in Dubai at the first leg of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024, with the Chinese women rampant over the last two days of the tournament.
Feature Photo Credit: World Rugby / Mike Lee
For the other Asian contendors, there was a mixed bag of results, but this is the first tournament of a long season and with two more legs of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024 to come – there is still much to fight for.
Chinese Coach Lu Zhuan told us shortly after the final win, “We lost to Kenya in the first game in the pool games, but the confidence and effort the team showed to get us to the final and in the final makes me proud.
“It also took us some time to adapt to the weather as we came from our winter. But this is a first good step for this season, and our next step is to get prepared for the second leg which will be tough with the long distance to travel. And of course, our main target is trying to reach the Olympics.”
Photo Credit: World Rugby / Mike Lee – China women victorious in Dubai – World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024
The Thailand women finished 7th and the HKCR women ended up in 10th – both will have their work cut out but results in Dubai showed how competitive this Series will be.
On the men’s side, Japan finished 5th, while the Hong Kong China Rugby men ended up 7th overall, with both sides winning their final matches.
Thailand easily beat Czechia to claim a deserved 7th with a 31-12 win, after narrowly losing to the Argentines in their quarterfinal after having been level 12-all at halftime.
Photo Credit: World Rugby / Mike Lee- Thailand Women claimed 7th at the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024 Dubai
HKCR women had been chasing a quarterfinal but were found wanting this weekend, and only had a playing squad of ten by the final day on which PNG comfortably beat them 31-0.
HKCR Women’s Head Coach Andy Vilk told Rugby Asia 247: “We obviously wanted to get to a quarterfinal berth and have that strong start to set up the Series, and we didn’t quite get there. We played some teams who were a level up from what we’re used to. But it’s been a great experience for everyone involved, even if it’s not the experience you always want, but that’s Sevens rugby. But getting to this level is invaluable.”
Photo Credit: World Rugby / Mike Lee – HKCR Women
The HKCR women’s squad had 7 try scorers in Dubai, each grabbing one try over the weekend. Chloe Chan was injured and the young and talented Julia Mibuy Mba Oyana received a red card and was suspended for the final day’s play.
Final Standings – Dubai World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024
China beat Kenya 19-5 in the women’s final, gaining some revenge as the fancied Chinese had lost to the African side 12-17 in their opening pool game, but that seemed to bring them to life, as they ran in more than 30 tries and averaged 40 points per game between the opening loss and the final.
China was in cruise control in reaching the final, brushing aside Uganda 45-5 in the semifinal.
China women’s player Chen Keyi, who scored a try in the final and six in the tournament, said: “We are happy and so proud of our girls and the way we played to our standards. Kenya is a very physical team so I’m proud of our tackling and how hard we worked for each other. We hope we can keep learning, keep playing our way and keep winning in the next tournaments.”
Among her teammates, #11 Liu Xiaoqian was incredibly impressive on the wing and scored 9 tries over the weekend, with every member of the 12-member squad scoring a try in Dubai!
The Argentina women claimed bronze, beating Uganda 36-10.
Photo Credit: World Rugby / Mike Lee – HKCR Max Denmark scored 5 tries over the weekend – World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024
Kenya men beat a stubborn Chile 12-5 in an intense men’s final – and it looks as if there are 6-8 men’s teams who are really competitive in this Series.
Uruguay beat Germany for the bronze, the Germans came into the final day undefeated but lost to Chile (semifinal) and Uruguay to end up 4th.
The HKCR men had also targeted a top-four finish and Head Coach Jevon Groves told us, “We were not far off that semi-final – these are small margins. Apart from the Uruguay game, I thought we worked extremely hard facing some really tough opposition. I think now, we reflect upon our work and where the effort was not enough against these top teams, we’ve got a match that with our execution.”
He added, “It was a bit of a reality check in terms of the level of competition we faced but there was lots of good news and a level of competition we haven’t been exposed to for some time.”
The team beat Georgia 38-0 in the 7th-place win, with Max Denmark and Fong Kit Fung each grabbing a brace of tries. Denmark ended up with 5 tries for the weekend.
Photo Credit: World Rugby / Mike Lee – Japan men ended up 5th in Dubai – World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024
The Japanese men beat Tonga twice over the course of the weekend, including in the 5th place match, running out 28-5 victors. Kippei Taninaka scored a hattrick ending up the team’s top try scorer in Dubai.
Women’s Final Standings
- China
- Kenya
- Argentina
- Uganda
- Belgium
- Poland
- Thailand
- Czech Republic
- PNG
- HKCR
- Paraguay
- Mexico
Men’s Final Standings
- Kenya
- Chile
- Uruguay
- Germany
- Japan
- Tonga
- Hong Kong China
- Georgia
- Uganda
- Portugal
- PNG
- Mexico
World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024
The top four men’s and women’s teams at the end of the Series will be in contention to claim a stake in the SVNS Series.
World Rugby Chief Competitions and Performance Officer Nigel Cass said after the final in Dubai, “The opening round of the Challenger in Dubai was a great advert for the increasing competitiveness and global growth of rugby sevens. With highly competitive matches throughout, no unbeaten teams and semi-finalists from four different continents, it was a great demonstration of the potential for sevens to continue to evolve and excite fans around the world on the road to the Olympic Games Paris 2024.”
The Challenger provides a promotion pathway to HSBC SVNS 2025 with the top four placed men’s and women’s teams securing their place in the new promotion and relegation play-off competition at the HSBC SVNS 2024 Grand Final in Madrid which takes place in June 2024.
The HSBC Challenger Series heads to Estadio Charrúa in Montevideo, Uruguay for the second leg from 8-10 March 2024, before standalone women’s and men’s events at Henryk Reyman’s Municipal Stadium in Krakow, Poland and Dantestadion in Munich, Germany respectively on 18-19 May 2024.
Photo Credit: World Rugby / Mike Lee – China’s #2 Yan Meiling celebrated her birthday on Sunday by winning the final at the Dubai World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024 – Happy Birthday!
World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024 – Day 2 Results
Women
- HKCR 0-31 PNG 9th Place Final
- Thailand 31-12 Czechia 7th Place
- China 45-5 Uganda Semifinal
- China 19-5 Kenya Final
Men
- Japan 28-5 Tonga 5th Place
- HKCR 38-0 Georgia 7th Place
See the full schedule of matches and results for Dubai from 12-14 January 2024.
Rugby Asia 247 would like to thank the organisers and hosts (Emirates Dubai 7s) for looking after the media so well over the weekend, and to all of the teams and their management for their time spent speaking with us.
World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024 News
- World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024 – Day 2 In Dubai
- World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024 – Day 1 In Dubai.
- World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024 – Leg 1 Dubai.
- World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024 – Dates And Venues Announced.
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