2025 Challenger Series – Cape Town Mar 1-2: Schedule, Results, How to Watch

The HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 is set to kick off in Cape Town, South Africa, with Athlone Stadium hosting the first two rounds of the competition on March 1-2 and March 7-8. The tournament will bring together 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams, all of whom earned their place through regional qualification, representing all six World Rugby regions.

The pools and match schedule for the opening round have now been confirmed, setting the stage for high-stakes competition as teams begin their journey toward promotion to the HSBC SVNS 2025-26 season.

To learn more about how the women’s teams qualified go here.

Competition Format and Path to Promotion

Following the two rounds in Cape Town, the top eight men’s and women’s teams based on cumulative points will move on to Krakow, Poland, where the final Challenger tournament will take place on April 11-12 at Henryk Reyman’s Municipal Stadium.

At the conclusion of the three-round series, the top four men’s and women’s teams will advance to the HSBC SVNS Playoff tournament in Los Angeles on May 3-4. There, they will battle against the bottom four teams from the HSBC SVNS series in a high-stakes showdown to secure their place in next season’s elite circuit.