China Women & South Africa Men Claim Final Paris 2024 Olympic Rugby Sevens Spots

China women continue their remarkable season and secured their place at the Paris 2024 Olympic Rugby Sevens as they beat Kenya in the final at Monaco – World Rugby Sevens Repechage 2024. The South African men also clinched the final spot beating Great Britain.

Photo credit: Mike Lee – KLC fotos for World Rugby

Paris 2024 Olympic Rugby Sevens Bound

China capped off another undefeated tournament as they beat  Kenya 24-7 in the final of the World Rugby Sevens Repechage in Monaco, and to the extended squad and management’s delight, will be heading to the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

The Chinese women’s team has lost only two competitive matches all season, once to Kenya in their opening game of the Challenger series, and once to Hong Kong China in the Melrose Claymore Challenge. Across the Challenger Series, the Madrid SVNS and the Monaco tournaments, China heads to Paris on a 27-match winning streak.

China’s Chen Keyi said after the win, “We are feeling really good, we are so excited to go to Paris. I think we deserve it, we work so hard for each other, on and off the field.” The experienced campaigner scored four tries on Sunday.

“We are so proud of ourselves; we are so proud of our team-mates; and we are so proud of our coaches,” added Liu Xiaoqian who has been sensational all season and topped the try scoring in the Challenger Series and opened the weekend in Monaco with a hat trick.

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Photo credit: Mike Lee – KLC fotos for World Rugby

South Africa had to overcome tough opposition in the semifinal and final as they saw off Canada and GB to add a silver lining to what has been a disappointing season, and the emotion was laid bare for all to see at the final whistle for both the victors and GB – the latter has finished second and 4th at the previous two Olympics but miss out on this occasion.

South Africa beat Great Britain 14-5 in a tense final and Tristan Leyds said, “It’s a pretty special group we have here, just to cherish the moment is what we’re living for There was a lot of external pressure, the people back home get disappointed [when we don’t perform], but we kept the group tight and it paid off, we qualified for Paris. To the people back home, thank you for supporting us and believing in us, we are going to take this energy to Paris.”

The Chinese men failed to reach the quarterfinals in a tough pool, while both the Hong Kong China women and men exited at the quarterfinal stage.

The China men actually impressed but their three losses were identical in them having strong first halves before dropping off in the second half. They were leading GB 12-0 at one point before the finalists in Monaco turned things around. For a side that has not competed at the Challenger level this season, the step up was too big but there was lots of promise for the Chinese men.

The HKCR women struggled against Poland in their quarterfinal exit as the Europeans were too physical in the contest but Hong Kong China can be proud of the season’s work and the depth of the squad has increased. They will enjoy the break before the Asia Rugby Sevens Series gets underway in September.

The Hong Kong China men were harshly done by the late withdrawal of PNG which placed all of the teams in their pool at a disadvantage. Everyone we spoke to over the weekend felt the teams should have been rewarded points as a forfeit but regardless at some stage, they would have faced SVNS-level opposition. It happened to be Spain twice who were too good for them. Head Coach Jevon Groves was proud of the group and the season as well as the resilience of the squad over a long and tough season.

You can read more in our review of the Hong Kong China performances in Monaco in collaboration with HKCR.

Asian Team Results – World Rugby Sevens Repechage 2024 Monaco

Women

• China 55-0 Mexico
• China 41-5 Czechia
• China 26-0 Poland
• China 31-0 Paraguay QF
• China 40-7 Poland SF
• China 24-7 Kenya Final

Photo credit: Mike Lee – KLC fotos for World Rugby

• Hong Kong China 33-15 Paraguay
• Hong Kong China 22-12 Jamaica
• Hong Kong China 14-17 Uganda
• Hong Kong China 0-36 Poland QF

Men

• Hong Kong China 36-0 Brazil
• Hong Kong China 14-35 Spain
• Hong Kong China 5-22 Spain QF

Photo credit: Mike Lee – KLC fotos for World Rugby

• China 19-35 GB
• China Men 14-33 Canada
• China Men 15-33 Uganda

All of the results from Monaco can be seen here.

Photo credit: Mike Lee – KLC fotos for World Rugby

Rugby Tournaments 2024

• Olympic Games Paris 2024 – Rugby Sevens Pools.
• Abu Dhabi World Schools Festival 2024.
• 2024 World Rugby U20 Trophy.
• 2024 World Rugby U20 Championship.