Kenya Lioness face tough battle in HSBC World Sevens Series quest

The women’s national rugby 7s team Kenya Lionesses are set to face a herculean task of making it to the prestigious 2023 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series as they found out the opponents they will take on in the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series that will act as a qualifier to the tournament.

Grouped in Pool D, the Lionesses are set to come up against one of the tournament favourites in South Africa, hosts Chile and China in the preliminary stages.

The World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series is returning with a standalone, combined event in Santiago, Chile on 12-14 August, 2022, following a one-year break due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

12 women’s and 12 men’s teams from all six World Rugby regions qualified via regional competitions and will compete over three days at Estadio Santa Laura with the tournament winners achieving the highly coveted core status on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2023.

The competition format replicates the Olympic Games, which sees the 12 teams drawn in to three pools of four teams each. The top two from each pool along with the two best third-placed teams will qualify for the quarter-finals, before the semi-finals and final will decide the winners who gain the ultimate prize of promotion to the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.

Poland and Belgium will face each other in pool E alongside Argentina and Papua New Guinea while Japan, who have plenty of experience in the Series will take on Kazakhstan, Colombia and Mexico in pool F.

The men’s side will see neighbouring Uganda seeking to join Kenya as a core team on the Series. They are in Pool C and will face Germany, Uruguay and Lithuania.

Hosts Chile are paired with South Korea, Papua New Guinea and Georgia in Pool A.

Pool B has Hong Kong, Tonga, Jamaica and Zimbabwe.

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The World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series was launched in February 2020 to boost rugby sevens’ development across the globe. The competition acts as the promotion pathway for the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series with the men's and women's Challenger Series winners becoming a core team on the World Series for the following season.

The men's Challenger Series 2020 featured two rounds, both played in South America. Japan’s men’s team gained promotion following the inaugural pair of events. This year’s event will see the debut for women’s teams in the Challenger Series after the planned inaugural women's Challenger Series event scheduled to take place in March 2020 in Stellenbosch, South Africa, was unable to take place due to the pandemic.

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