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Kenya have taken top honours at the opening round of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 after a perfect start with victory in round 1, beating South Africa in the semi-final before edging Argentina to claim the opening weekend’s bragging rights in Cape Town on Sunday, 2 March, 2025.
Amid ecstatic celebrations in front of a contingent of supporters, Kenya captain Grace Okulu said: “This victory is nice because we’ve never won a Challenger series. It is a milestone for us. I’m happy for the team, and I’m delighted for everyone who supports us!”
“We must carry on with the momentum and prepare hard for the next series this coming weekend. It has been an amazing journey for us and we are happy that things are working out for us.”
Kenya Women’s Sevens Captain, Grace Okulu
The Springbok Women’s Sevens claimed third place, and although SA coach Renfred Dazel was satisfied with bronze, he lamented a three-minute lapse in concentration that cost them dearly against Kenya.
The South Africans beat Colombia 29-0 in the bronze match, but it was a bitter-sweet result for the Bok Women, who lost 19-15 to Kenya in their semi-final earlier on Sunday, even though the victory over the South Americans will see them in third place on the log heading into next weekend’s second tournament at the same venue.
“The Challenger Series is not a sprint, rather a marathon, so you have three tournaments to make sure you are in the top four.”
Springbok Women’s Sevens Coach Renfred Dazel
“Starting off in third place after the first tournament is not what we came here for, but it’s also not the end of the world. We are in the top four and if we recover well this week, we will have another opportunity to improve that standing next weekend.”
The Bok Women were quick out of the blocks in their all-African semi-final. Some crisp passing opened up the Kenyan defence and Nadine Roos and Maria Tshiremba scored to put South Africa 10-0 up.
The good interplay boded well for the team in green and gold, but the turning point in the match came soon after. Despite having one player in the sin bin and another down injured, Kenya broke through to score under the posts. They converted, won the ball back from the restart and scored again and suddenly, they were leading 14-10 at the break.
Things went from bad to worse for South Africa when Kenya scored a third try with two minutes left to open a nine-point lead.
Some reinforcements off the bench elevated the home side’s effort, with Zintle Mpupha and Rights Mkhari making a good impact, but a yellow card to Tshiremba left her team scrambling again. Roos scored a second with the buzzer in the background, leaving South Africa out of time for another try and out of a place in the final.
Dazel said the lapse against Kenya was unfortunate: “We started so well, but then a couple of missed tackles allowed them to break out and suddenly we were chasing the game. Credit to the players though, as they came back firing against Colombia.”
Roos was the star of the show against the Colombians. She scored in the opening spell and converted for a 7-0 lead, while Tshiremba extended the lead to 12-0 just before the break.
Roos also scored first in the second half as the South Africans took full control of the match. Ayanda Malinga added to the scoresheet before Kayla Swarts made memories on her debut when she danced around her opponent to score her first international try.
Dazel also praised the efforts of the two debutants, Swarts and Alicia Willemse, who started at flyhalf in both matches. “Both got good minutes in,” said Dazel. “I am happy that Kayla managed to score, while Alicia played well too.
“We will look at our injury situation before we finalise the squad for next weekend. Leigh Fortuin picked up a knee strain and we will know in the morning how bad that is. That will determine if we will bring another player into the squad for next weekend.”
The Challenger series starts with back-to-back events in Cape Town, with the top-ranked eight teams progressing to the third and final tournament at the Henryk Reyman’s Municipal Stadium in Krakow on 11-12 April.
From there, the women’s teams with the most cumulative points gained across the three Challenger rounds will then qualify for the HSBC SVNS Play Off in Los Angeles on 3 – 4 May, where they will face the bottom four ranked teams from HSBC SVNS 2025 in a high-stakes promotion and relegation tournament with four coveted places in future SVNS at stake.
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 massive growth over the past two decades since the introduction of the global sevens series and becoming an Olympic sport at the Rio 2016 Games.
Springbok Women’s Sevens Challenger Series Results on Sunday, 2 March
14h56 – Semi Final 1: Argentina 10 – 5 Colombia
15h18 – Semi Final 2: South Africa 15 – 19 Kenya
18h56 – Silver Medal Match: South Africa 29 – 9 Colombia
19h54 – Cup Final: Kenya 17 – 12 Argentina
South African Scorers on Sunday
South Africa 15 (10), Kenya 19 (14)
South Africa
Tries: Nadine Roos (2), Maria Tshiremba
South Africa 29 (12), Colombia 0 (0)
South Africa
Tries: Nadine Roos (2), Maria Tshiremba, Ayanda Malinga, Kayla Swarts
Conversions: Roos (2)
Springbok Women’s Results on Saturday
South Africa 36 (24), Hong Kong China 0 (0)
South Africa 26 (14), Czechia 0 (0)
South African Scorers on Saturday
South Africa 36 (24), Hong Kong China 0 (0)
South Africa
Tries: Ayanda Malinga, Maria Tshiremba (2), Shiniqwa Lamprecht, Nadine Roos, Felicia Jacobs
Conversions: Roos (3)
South Africa 26 (14), Czechia 0 (0)
South Africa
Tries: Maria Tshiremba, Ayanda Malinga, Nadine Roos, Felicia Jacobs
Conversions: Roos (3)
Springbok Women Sevens Squad for the Opening Tournament of the Challenger Series
Leigh Fortuin
Zintle Mpupha
Felicia Jacobs
Maria Tshiremba
Kayla Swarts
Nadine Roos
Mathrin Simmers (captain)
Kemisetso Baloyi
Shiniqwa Lamprecht
Ayanda Malinga
Alicia Willemse
Rights Mkhari
Original Copy: SA Rugby Communications, with editing by gsport
Main Photo Caption: Kenya have taken top honours at the opening round of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 after a perfect start with victory in round 1, beating South Africa in the semi-final before edging Argentina to claim the opening weekend’s bragging rights in Cape Town on Sunday, 2 March, 2025. All Photos: World Rugby / Zach Franzen Photo
Photo 2 Caption: South Africa beat Colombia 29-0 in the bronze match, but it was a bitter-sweet result, after losing 19-15 to Kenya in their semi-final earlier on Sunday.
Photo 3 Caption: After the South Americans were tied 5-all at halftime, Argentina doubled their lead in the second half while holding their try line safe from Colombian attack.
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