Europe will have six teams competing for the coveted spots, in the men’s competition Germany, Italy and Belgium will take part while in the women’s tournament current European Champions Poland will be there along with Belgium and Czechia.
All six World Rugby regions represented in competition designed to boost the global development of rugby sevens.
Stellenbosch, South Africa, will play host to the third instalment of the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series 2023, which takes place at Markotter Stadium on 20-22 and 28-30 April 2023.
The World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series replicates the Olympic Games format, which sees the 12 men and women’s teams drawn into three pools of four. The top two from each pool, as well as the two best third-placed finishers will qualify for the knockout stages. The quarter finals and semi-final matches will lead to the bronze and gold medal matches.
The 12-team women’s pool draw sees Poland go up against Columbia, Hong Kong China and Paraguay in Pool D.
Pool F features China, Belgium, Papua New Guinea and Thailand.
The winner of the women’s competition will secure an automatic entry to the HSBC World Rugby Sevens World Series 2024.
In the men’s Challenger Series, Germany headline the men’s Pool A and are joined by Tonga, Zimbabwe and Belgium.
2022 hosts and third place finishers, Chile, will be looking to improve from last year and go for the top spot. They will take on Hong Kong China, Papua New Guinea and Italy in Pool B.
The winner of the men’s competition will enter a four-team play-off at the HSBC London Sevens in May 2023 together with the teams placed 12th – 14th after ten rounds of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series. The winner of the play-off will achieve the coveted Sevens World Series 2024 status.
The competition will kick-off on 20 April at 09:00 local time (GMT +2) when Belgium take on Papua New Guinea in the women’s Pool F, while Madagascar go up against Mexico in Pool E.
For more information and tournament coverage head over to World Rugby’s website.
