Bok Women keep hope alive at Rugby Seven’s Challenger Series

Having won the first leg of the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series, the South African Women are looking to not only claim a spot on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2024 but also be worthy of it by winning both their games on the opening day of the second leg of the tournament taking place from 28-30 April in Stellenbosch.

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WORLD RUGBY SEVENS CHALLENGER SERIES

The World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series provides an opportunity for teams that are not core members of the World Series to secure a permanent spot on the circuit for the next season. Winning a tournament is always the goal, but this one carries the weight of opportunity. Points are awarded for each team’s rank in both of the tournaments, and the team that has the highest aggregate points score will move on to the next stage.

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For the women, the winning team after the two legs of the tournament will gain promotion to the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2024 as the 12th and final team. For the men, the winner, on aggregate, will enter a four-team playoff at the HSBC London Sevens in May, together with the teams placed 12th to 14th after 10 rounds of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2023. Then the winner of the play-off will achieve Sevens World Series 2024 status.

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As the tournament is played in the Olympic format, each successful team will have two games daily. Three pool games, a quarter-final, a semi-final and, a final or place-determining game.

24 teams will be taking part. 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams. Despite their troublesome form of late, the South African Men’s side is not facing relegation, so they will not be in action.

One reason to support the tournament is that entrance to the Markötter Stadium in Stellenbosch is free. Another is that the communication from official channels has been spotty, so the most reliable way to keep up with the action may be to watch it live.

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SOUTH AFRICA’S GAMES THUS FAR

On the first day of the three-day event, the Bok Women had two games. First, they maintained a clean sheet against Paraguay, winning 29 – 0. Later in the day, they beat Madagascar 19 – 5. On Saturday, 29 April, they take on Thailand, whom they beat in the quarterfinal in the first leg at 11:32. This should be followed up by a quarter-final game.

It is worth noting that first-leg silver medalists Belgium, as well as China, are both currently unbeaten. It will likely come down to points placing on Sunday, so winning your pool and securing a favourable knockout draw is a must.

Updates on the tournament can be found here.