An exciting second day of international rugby sevens action at the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024 in Montevideo saw the semi-finallists decided following hotly contested quarter-finals on Saturday evening.
The first men’s semi-final will be an all South American affair as hosts Uruguay face Chile, before Dubai champions Kenya take on Hong Kong, the only team who remain unbeaten in an incredibly competitive men’s tournament in Montevideo.
In a demonstration of rugby’s continuing global expansion, teams from four different continents make up the women’s semi-final line up.
China have continued their winning streak since claiming gold at the first round in Dubai and will play Uganda in the first women’s semi-final, before Argentina and Belgium take the pitch in the second semi-final hoping to maintain their unbeaten records in Montevideo.
The women’s quarter-finals saw China beat Kenya 24-7 in a repeat of the Dubai gold medal final. Uganda overcame Hong Kong China 22-17, while crowd favourites Argentina beat Poland 26-17 in a pulsating match and Belgium overpowered Thailand 17-5 to continue their winning streak in Montevideo.
The men’s quarter-final clashes saw Chile record a narrow 12-7 win over Germany before hosts Uruguay were cheered on to a 26-7 victory over Portugal. In an intense all African battle it was Dubai winners Kenya who triumphed 7-5 over Uganda before Hong Kong China saw off Tonga 26-7 in the last match of day two at Estadio Charrua
There is more to play for than ever before in this year’s Challenger with the competition expanded to three rounds and the top four placed men’s and women’s teams qualifying for the new promotion and relegation play-off competition at the HSBC SVNS 2024 Grand Final in Madrid.
The Challenger was introduced in February 2020 to boost the development of rugby sevens across the globe and provide a clear promotion pathway to reach the top level of global rugby sevens for the short format of the game which 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 bigger and better than ever 2024 edition of the Challenger kicked off with a combined men’s and women’s event at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai on 12-14 January, followed by this weekend’s second round at Estadio Charrúa in Montevideo before standalone women’s and men’s events at Henryk Reyman's Municipal Stadium in Krakow, Poland and Dantestadion in Munich, Germany respectively on 18-19 May.
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