Stakes soar as final round approaches of World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025

• Closing round of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 to take place at Henryk Reyman's Municipal Stadium in Krakow, Poland on 11-12 April.
• Top four ranked men's and women's teams will qualify for the HSBC SNVS Play-off in Los Angeles on 3-4 May.
• Germany men and Kenya women are top of the rankings going into the final round.

The captains of the eight women’s and eight men’s teams gathered near Henryk Reyman's Municipal Stadium on Wednesday against the backdrop of one of Krakow’s iconic trams which proudly displayed promotion of the tournament.

The 16 teams qualified following two days of thrilling action at the second round of the Challenger Series, which took place in Cape Town in March and saw Portugal’s men and Kenya's women take the top honours.

At the end of this weekend’s World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger, the four men’s and women’s teams with the most cumulative points gained across the three rounds will qualify for the HSBC SVNS Play-off competition in Los Angeles on 3-4 May.

Poland captain Natalia Pamieta, speaking at the captains' shoot, said: “It is always very special to play in front of the home crowd. There will be our families and friends at the stadium and it always gives as extra motivation and some kind of super power.

“We want to play our strengths and show the best rugby we can play. We want to do it for our fans, friends, families but also for ourselves.”

Jaroslaw Parasal, President of Polish Rugby Union, added: “The fact that this is the only World Rugby Sevens tournament in Europe this year means a lot for us.

“We have a great partnership with World Rugby that we continue to build on from hosting the HSBC Sevens Challenger final women’s tournament last year to this year's expanded tournament.

“We do our best to make another step forward this year, grow the sport in the region and ensure the teams have a great time. This event is really special for Polish rugby and there are fans coming from all around the country to be with us this weekend so we hope for a fantastic spectacle!”

The action in Henryk Reyman's Municipal Stadium kicks off at 09:00 local time (GMT+2) on Friday, 11 April with pool matches. The knockout stages begin on Saturday at 11:00 with the men’s and women’s finals at 17:47 and 18:15 respectively.

VIEW TOURNAMENT INFORMATION HERE>>

World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 

Men’s pools:
Pool A: Chile, Germany, Samoa, Tonga
Pool B: Canada, Japan, Madagascar, Portugal,

Women’s pools:
Pool A: Belgium, Colombia, Kenya, Thailand
Pool B: Argentina, Czechia, Poland, South Africa

The Challenger was introduced in February 2020 to boost the development of rugby sevens across the globe. The short format of the game has experienced huge growth over the past two decades since the introduction of the global sevens series and becoming an Olympic sport at the Rio 2016 Games.

The 2025 edition of the Challenger competition kicked off with combined events over two weekends in Cape Town on 1-2 and 7-8 March.

Fans around the globe can watch the action on rugbypass.tv.