Thailand Women and Japanese Men Qualify for Third Leg Of HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger 2025

The Thailand Women and Japanese Men did enough to qualify for the third leg of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger 2025 which will be played in Krakow in April 2025, while the Hong Kong China men and women fell short in their quest at the second leg of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger 2025.

The Portugal Men and Kenya Women won the second round, with the African side going back-to-back in Cape Town and knocking out the hosts both weekends. Portugal beat Germany 12-7 in the men’s final, while Kenya beat South Africa 17-0 in the women’s final.

Captain of the Portuguese team, Diogo Sarmento said: “This win is overwhelming. The conditions were not perfect for us as we had a lot of players making their debut and the average age of the group is 20. We stood together, and what we accomplished is fantastic. We worked hard and now we are looking forward to going to the next round.”

Kenyan Women’s Grace Okulu said: “This is the first time we achieved back-to-back wins in the Sevens Challenger and we are now Challenger champions. We are now ready for anything.” Okulu has played with Japanese club Nagato Blue Angels in recent years.

In the second leg, Japan finished 4th overall, losing both of Saturday’s matches, the Thai Women ended up 6th, and the HKCR women and men both finished 10th.

What The Asian Teams Said – HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger 2025 Leg 2

Thailand Women

Thai Women’s 7s Head Coach Tanyavit Kuasint said of his stand-in captain Laksina Nawakaew who scored both tries in the win to set the 5th place final and the coach said “She never gives up and I am and I know Thailand is very proud of her and the team for what we have done. This team and the players are very special and against Argentina, we will need to push up quick in defence and make sure to keep possession. The goal was to make the top 8 and we have achieved that – it’s hard to think too far ahead and we still need to take it step-by-step.”

Asked what it would mean to be in the top 4 in Krakow or a shot to go to the HSBC SVNS Series, “It would be amazing and it would mean making history for my country. My heart would be full and it would be amazing.”

Photo Credit – World Rugby – Thailand Women

Japan Men

Japan Men’s 7s Head Coach Phil Greening said: “These are young players who are learning on the run and learning what I want from them as well as the demands of the game and if they want to be professional players and if they have ambitions of going on to play for the Brave Blossoms. It’s important for them to know about resilience and being robust, staying fit, and staying in those close games mentally and physically and they showed that today and it’s brilliant to see.”

Photo Credit – World Rugby – Japan and Canada Men

Hong Kong China

Paul John said, “The main lesson from a playing point of view, is that Sevens is a difficult sport to win all your games in. It’s very very difficult, and to predict results because anybody can beat anybody. if you disrespect the game, it will beat you, let alone what opposition you’re playing against. 

So there are lots of lessons but the basic ingredient of this game is hard work and desire. You can have everything else in place, and we had everything else in place, but it boils down to not letting your mind beat you, and we beat ourselves I think, unfortunately – that’s what happened this weekend.

Photo Credit – World Rugby – HKCR Men

Hong Kong China Women’s 7s Head Coach Andy Vilk said of the two legs, “The girls were involved in some very physical matchups and were hitting above their weight with how they play physically and how they play smart which has been very pleasing to see. I think we showed some consistency across these two legs in terms of our performances.

Also, just everyone backing each other up as yesterday was a real emotional rollercoaster and Sevens tournaments are sometimes like that, so to see the girls pick themselves up today was very encouraging.”

Photo Credit – World Rugby – HKCR Women

You can read more from a HKCR perspective in our partnered article here.

Results – Day 2 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger 2025 Leg 2

Japan Men

• Portugal 14-36 in the Cup SF
• Japan 15-28 Canada – 3rd place

Thailand Women

• Thailand 14-7 Uganda – 5th place SF
• Thailand 10-30 Argentina – 5th Place Final

HKCR Men

• HKCR men 24-19 Brazil 9th Place Semifinal
• HKCR 10-24 Madagascar – 9th Place Final

HKCR Women

• HKCR 24-19 Samoa – 9th Place Semifinal
• HKCR 5-29 Belgium – 9th Place Final

All of the results and fixtures can be seen here.

Standings – HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger 2025

The top eight placed men’s and women’s teams progressed to the third round in Krakow to be held from 11-12 April.

Women

Kenya, South Africa, Argentina, Colombia, Thailand, Czechia, Poland and Uganda, qualified for the third Challenger round on 11-12 April in Poland.

Kenya (40 points), South Africa (34), Argentina (30) and Colombia (30) are the front runners after the two tournaments hosted in South Africa.

Thailand is currently 5th with 22 points, and Hong Kong China were 10th overall.

Men

The top eight men’s teams to go to the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger third round in Krakow are Germany, Canada, Portugal, Chile, Samoa, Japan, Madagascar, and Tonga.

Canada leads the standings after the two legs with 34 points, Germany has the same points, and Portugal is third with 32 points.

Japan is currently 6th with 20  points, and Hong Kong China finished 11th overall.

Sevens Rugby News 2025

• Day 1 Of HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger 2025 Leg 2 Sees Mixed Fortunes For Hong Kong China, Japan, and Thailand
• Thailand Women Shine At World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 Leg 1 With 5th Place Finish.
• World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 Leg 2 Pools – All On The Line To Qualify As A Top 8 Team.
• 2025 Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens – What You Need To Know.