World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 Leg 2 Pools – All On The Line To Qualify As A Top 8 Team
rugbyasia247
Posted On March 3, 2025
The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger 2025 Leg 2 at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town will see the same participating teams involved from 7-8 March as they compete to try and secure a top-8 spot overall to qualify for the 3rd leg in Krakow.
Feature Photo Credit – World Rugby – Thailand Women 7s
With only the top eight men’s and women’s teams progressing to the third round in Krakow from 11-12 April 2025, and then only the top four placed men’s and women’s teams securing their place in the high stakes HSBC SVNS Play-Off in Los Angeles on 3-4 May for an opportunity to gain promotion to the HSBC SVNS – every fixture in the second leg is high-stakes.
Everyone will be using their calculators to work out the permutations and with the relentless format of the pools – every game will be treated like a final.
World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 Leg 2 Pools
We will update this article with team news as they are made available.
Women’s Pools
Of the Asian-based teams, Thailand women are best placed following their 5th place finish and are in Pool D with Colombia who finished 4th overall and Mexico who were the lowest ranked side after the first leg – and who the Thais comfortably beat in pool play 41-0.
The team is on a high and the side’s top try scorer wants more in the second leg. Jirawan Chutrakun told us; “I really want this team to reach a final or top 4 finish and I think we can do that next weekend.”
Hong Kong China with a 10th place finish in the opening leg is in a tough pool B with leg 1 runners-up Argentina and 7th placed Czechia – they will need to target a win over the Europeans and hope to finish as high as possible in the 5-8 bracket.
Hong Kong China Women’s co-captain Natasha Olson-Thorne said: “We’re still driving for that top eight spot and we have to keep fighting and keep going and believing – bringing it back to basics of being quick, tackling, passing – we have everything to play for.”
You can also read more here from an HKCR perspective in our collaborative piece for leg 2.
Photo Credit – World Rugby – HKCR Women
Pool A
- Kenya
- Uganda
- Belgium
Pool B
- Argentina
- Czechia
- Hong Kong China
Hong Kong China Women’s 7s Coach Robbie Fergusson told us “They have a great connection as a group and on the weekend they played for each other well – they love playing games together and playing cards and doing things together off the pitch, so it was pleasing to see that come to fruition on the pitch at times as well. That unity has impressed me the most and just how tight they are as a group – I hope it will show in the results this coming weekend.”
Co-Captain Chloe Chan is still confident the side can secure a top-8 finish if they play to the best of their abilities. “Our bond is one of our strengths and we know each other inside and out in how we want to play and we have some really good speed on the wings, and there are some good young girls in the squad but it is a talented team.”
Pool C
- South Africa
- Poland
- Samoa
Rights Mkhari from the Springbok Women’s Sevens side said “The focus is here and now and how we are going to cut out the mistakes that cost us last weekend. We are playing against Samoa and Poland, two very physical teams in our pool. They would have studied our weaknesses against Kenya, where we did not defend well enough and paid the price.
The realities of the second tournament will be that all the teams have footage on their opponents and will analyse where the weaknesses are.”
Pool D
- Colombia
- Thailand
- Mexico
Men’s Pools
As fate would have it, both Japan and HKCR men are pooled with the leg 1 champions, Chile, in Pool A. Unless either side can beat the log leaders, it is likely the pool match between the two Asian teams will determine one of them missing out on a top 8 finish unless other results go their way. They are scheduled to face each other first in the pool.
Photo Credit – World Rugby – Japan Men
Jevon Groves, Hong Kong China Men’s 7s Head Coach said that he had been disappointed with their performances after the opening leg, but added, “Hopefully we can go again next week because tournaments can change very quickly.
We know Japan quite well and played them over the past few tournaments but we’ve also played Chile quite a lot including last Challenger Series but the total focus is on ourselves as we were not firing last weekend.
We’ve had the tough conversations and done the reviews so I think we’ve drawn a line under that now. What I’m most pleased with is the boys have taken it on the chin and they are a hard-working bunch and fully focused on the task at hand.”
Japan Men’s 7s Head Coach Phil Greening told Rugby Asia 247, “I want the boys to be free and express themselves as I know when they do that, they are talented players.”
Photo Credit – World Rugby – HKCR Men
Pool A
- Chile
- Japan
- Hong Kong China
HKCR Men’s top-scorer in Leg 1, Harry Sayers, said of facing Japan, “We’ll take every game as they come and we’ve had some good tussles with Japan in the past but we’ve had the rub of the green in recent matches. We won’t take them for granted as you’ve seen they can do some real damage but we need to focus on ourselves and play to our systems.”
Pool B
- Canada
- Uganda
- Tonga
Pool C
- Germany
- Madagascar
- Georgia
Pool D
- Samoa
- Portugal
- Brazil
Standings – World Rugby HSBC 7s Challenger 2025 Leg 1
Keep in mind that the points differentials may also well come into play by the conclusion of the second leg.
Women’s Standings
- Kenya 20
- Argentina 18
- South Africa 16
- Colombia 14
- Thailand 12
- Poland 10
- Czechia 8
- Uganda 6
- Belgium 4
- Hong Kong China 3
- Samoa 2
- Mexico 1
Men’s Standings
- Chile 20
- Canada 18
- Germany 16
- Samoa 14
- Portugal 12
- Madagascar 10
- Uganda 8
- Japan 6
- Hong Kong China 4
- Tonga 3
- Georgia 2
- Brazil 1
Squad News HSBC 7s Challenger 2025 Leg 2
Thailand Women
- Darin Jantamala
- Dion Akwaja
- Jirawan Chutrakun
- Laksina Nawakaew
- Narathip Maneesai
- Passon Jaengjob
- Phanthira Chaiket
- Pornnapa Nartsopha
- Rattanaporn Wittayaronnayut
- Salinda Phaekhwamdee
- Thanaporn Huankid
- Wannaree Meechok
Image Credit – TRU
Japan Men
- Kota Nakama
- Naoya Ogita
- Ren Ouchi
- Ryodai Shirakuni
- Shota Goto
- Shotaro Tsuoka
- Taiyo Sugino
- Takemichi Nakano
- Tessho Yamato
- Toma Shiwachi
- Yohei Yamamoto
- Yusei Demetrius Jamal Kashima
Image Credit – JRFU
HKCR Men
The only change from leg 1 is James Christie having recovered from injury and Michael Coverdale drops out due to a knock in the first leg.
- Ally Nardoni
- Blake Elliot
- Cado Lee
- Callum McCullough
- Fong Kit Fung
- Harry Sayers
- Jack Combes
- James Christie
- Liam Doherty
- Liam Herbert
- Matteo Avitabile
- Max Denmark
HKCR Women
There is one change in the HKCR Women’s side with Viv (Hoi Yan) Poon coming in with Nam Ka Man dropping out.
- Au Yeung Sin Yi
- Chloe Chan
- Chong Ka Yan
- Jess Eden
- Jessica Ho
- Natasha Olson-Thorne
- Poon Hoi Yan
- Pun Wai Yan
- Rosie Wright
- Sabay Lynam
- Shanna Forrest
- Stephanie Chan
How To Watch World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 Leg 2
The HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 will be streamed via RugbyPassTV in your region if there is no local broadcaster.
All of the results and fixtures will be made available online by World Rugby.
Sevens Rugby News 2025
- Asian Sides Struggle In HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger 2025 Leg 1 Opening Day.
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- 2025 Cohort of Gallagher High-Performance Academy Coaches Announced – Involved In World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025.
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