The World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 gets underway with back-to-back legs in Cape Town, South Africa and both the Hong Kong China men's and Women's 7s sides are in action. We look at the new format, the Hong Kong China players to watch out for – and hear what Coach Peter Jericevich has to say about the expectations for the opening rounds.
Since the success of the 2024 Asia Rugby Sevens Series which wrapped up in Bangkok late last year, our development women and men participated at the Dubai Emirates 7s in December while several players rejoined their domestic clubs before the end-of-year season break.
Since the Christmas and New Year break, the sevens players have come out of club rugby, and the women’s and men’s squads have had good time-specific sevens preparation for the Challenger Series.
Hong Kong China Sevens Coach Peter Jericevich said; “It's been awesome as we've had three weeks together and then we all had a break over Chinese New Year. After that, the men’s squad are off to Fukuoka for a training camp against Japan [where the Japan Rugby Football Union JAPAN BASE elite national rugby training centre is located].
“Japan is also preparing for this Challenger Series, so it works well to have a little bit of a hit out with them, which will give us an idea of where we are and any improvements that need to be made prior to the tournament – but we're in a good place right now. The women's squad were in China in January and they had a good hit against them.”
Of the new schedule and format for the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger 2025, the stars are better aligned in terms of preparation for both sides.
“I think the tournament schedules worked in our and other teams' favour this year. Last season, it wasn't ideal coming back after Christmas and the players had a lot of club rugby up until that point. This time around, it's worked a lot better having a couple of months of preparation, so we're definitely going to be the best prepared we can be for this Challenger series. It's really exciting as we've had sort of a full squad available to train and to prepare for the upcoming tournaments.”
The format this year sees the two events in Cape Town played on the weekends of 1-2 and 8-9 March with 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams again involved – all have qualified via their regional sevens tournaments. After the two rounds in South Africa, only the top 8 sides from the men and women based on accumulated points will travel to the final leg in Krakow, Poland for the final round from 11-12 April 2025.
From there, the top four sides from each the women and men will earn the right to compete with the bottom four SVNS Series teams in Los Angeles from 3-5 May for the relegation play-off competition.
Between the legs in South Africa and Krakow, the Hong Kong China representative teams will also have the chance to play in front of the home fans as part of the Melrose Claymores competition during the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens 2025 from 28-30 March at the new Kai Tak Stadium.
The Hong Kong China men are the defending champions and play Japan and China, while our women will play Thailand and Kazakhstan in a round-robin tournament which could be crucial preparation for the final leg.
LEG 1 POOLS - CAPE TOWN (1-2 MARCH 2025)
The format of the Cape Town legs sees four pools of three teams, and only the winner of each pool progresses to the semifinal – it's a win-at-all-costs format. The other non-semi-finalist teams will still play for vital points in placement matches.
“You have to win your pool so it means that every game counts. If you slip up, then that could be you in that sort of middle half or bottom half of the tournament” explained Jericevich. This is the same format the HSBC SVNS used in Cape Town in December 2024 and will do again in Singapore in April 2025 (when events fall on consecutive weekends).
The pools for the opening round see our men play Canada and Madagascar, while our women face South Africa and Czechia.
The Canada men dropped down from the SVNS Series and qualified for this season's Challenger by winning the RAN 7s qualifiers – going undefeated and beating Trinidad and Tobago 38-0 in the final. Madagascar secured their spot through the 2024 Rugby Africa Men's Sevens tournament and the African side was not on the Challenger Series last season.
The Springbok women 7s dropped down from the SVNS but won their 12th African title outclassing fellow Challenger qualifiers Kenya and Uganda to secure a return to the 2025 Challenger Series.
The Czechia women placed 6th in the Women's 7s Rugby Europe Championship 2024 which saw them qualify. Last season they ended up 8th overall in the Women’s Challenger, sandwiched by Thailand in 7th and Hong Kong China in 9th.
Of the men’s pool, Jericevich explained, “Canada just dropped down from the SVNS Series. We can do a lot of preparation for them as they've played a lot of rugby over the last few years at that level. So we've got a lot of footage to see how they play and what we can do to take our opportunities against them. Madagascar is a bit of an unknown outfit.”
Other teams the men know will be a threat are the likes of Germany, Chile, Samoa and Tonga.
The former Scotland 7s international, who arrived in Hong Kong in 2019 said, “We played Germany a couple of times last year, and they got the better of us, so we know sort of the threats that they pose. They've had a team that's been together for a long time, and they've always been in that top end of the Challenger Series. So they're always going to be a strong outfit. As we progress, we know the likes of Germany, Chile, Tonga – there's a lot of good teams.”
Of the women’s pool in the first leg, he explained, “South Africa has just dropped down from the SVNS Series too and will be at home – they were quite consistent last year. Czechia was in that middle half of the series last season, so it's going to be a bit of a challenge for them as well.
Every game counts and It's about those two pool games first, and if we perform well in those games, then we'll see where we're at but we just focus on the games ahead and then we'll see what faces us later in the tournament.”
The pools for the second leg are based on seedings and results from the first leg.
HONG KONG CHINA 7S COACHING STAFF
The Hong Kong China 7s program has international playing experience at the coaching level. Peter Jericevich said, “We are privileged to have such a strong coaching group. Robbie (Fergusson) just came in last Summer straight off being a World SVNS Series player, but he was also a coach for a number of years within the club game in Scotland. He brings some fresh ideas to the program, and he's been a great addition.
“Andy Vilk leads the women's team, and he's obviously an experienced coach and former England international. Jevon Groves leads the men's program, and then Paul John is the leader amongst us all and keeps us all on the same track.
“We've got quite a good mix and we're really a close-knit coaching group – we all train together as well which helps keep us close. And then we have strong staff in terms of S&C, Physios and Analysts.”
HONG KONG CHINA PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: MEN
Matteo Avitabile
Avitabile moved back to Hong Kong in 2024 and has only had a short time with the Hong Kong China 7s program. He was also capped by the representative Men’s XV last season.
Peter Jericevich said, “He's made a lot of improvements over a short period of time so it's exciting to see what he can do over the next few years. He got capped with us in the Asian Rugby Sevens Series and had a strong couple of tournaments with us. He's a player that could play in multiple positions which is handy for sevens and we've had him in the forwards and the centre, but potentially, he could be at 10.
“He can pass, he can run, he can kick, so he's a threat across all three of those areas, and he's also a very aggressive defender. I think it's going to be a big year and I am excited to see him in the Challenger Series.”
Max Denmark
Jericevich said of Max Denmark, who in last season’s stats for the Challenger Series across all men’s players had the third most carries (55), the top line breaks (14), was the top try scorer with 17 and bagged the second most points scored overall!
“Max has always had that raw speed and athleticism, but what I'm pleased about Max is he's developed the other sides of his game that he's probably not renowned for. His defensive games got a lot better and he's been working hard on his kicking game as well so hopefully, he'll pose a kicking threat as well as a running threat – but he is our speed man.
“He's been consistent over the last few seasons, and the way he's training, he's only going to get better. I think he's as strong and as fit as he's ever been. I think we've got a good blend within the squad that helps players show their strengths, and his strength is his running game.”
HONG KONG CHINA PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: WOMEN
Chong Ka Yan
Chong Ka Yan was tied in second overall with six tries in last season’s final round in Krakow in the Challenger.
“She has been very consistent over the last few seasons and she has been awesome. She's a very quick and agile player who always seems to make her way past the first defender. She is comfortable on the wing and she's comfortable at nine, which allows us to be creative on the ball a little bit more, and she quite often finds herself across the dry line. Chong Ka Yan is someone that the girls look up to with her experience and leadership, but also the fact that she's electric.”
Sabay Lynam
“She has been in the squad a couple of seasons and is actually over in Australia at university, but makes her way back for competitions. She is comfortable at 10 or centre as well but really she could play a number of positions and is very comfortable on the ball, has great passing skills and she can kick as well – but she also has got some raw speed. She is still young and has huge potential.”
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