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Sevens

What to watch in women’s rugby: England 2025 qualification, SVNS silverware on the line

By Martyn Thomas

207 days ago

Jorja Miller #83, Jazmin Felix-Hotham #13 and Michaela Blyde #6 of New Zealand celebrate after defeating Australia in the women's cup final during day three of the HSBC SVNS Singapore at the National Stadium on May 05, 2024 in Singapore. (Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images)

It’s another busy week on RugbyPass TV, where Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 qualification and HSBC SVNS 2024 glory will be decided, and the Allianz Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) regular season draws to a close.

The Oceania Rugby Women’s Championship continues on Wednesday and concludes on Sunday with an expected shootout between defending champions Samoa and Fiji for a place at England 2025.

Whoever finishes the tournament in the top two will play WXV 3 rugby in Dubai this September and October, and that is also the prize on offer for Hong Kong China and Kazakhstan this Saturday.

Abbie Ward: Bump in the Road | trailer

Bump in the Road explores the challenges faced by professional female athletes and all working mothers, featuring England lock, Abbie Ward. Watch the full documentary on RugbyPass TV

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Abbie Ward: Bump in the Road | trailer

Bump in the Road explores the challenges faced by professional female athletes and all working mothers, featuring England lock, Abbie Ward. Watch the full documentary on RugbyPass TV

Watch now

Meanwhile, Loughborough Lightning welcome Saracens to Franklin’s Gardens on Sunday hoping to pop the perennial champions’ bubble as the north Londoners attempt to maintain their momentum ahead of the PWR semi-finals.

All of that action, and more, will be available to stream live and for free on RugbyPass TV.

Can Lightning strike Sarries?

Saracens continue their preparations for the PWR semi-finals and help to bring the curtain down on the regular season, when they travel to Loughborough Lightning on Sunday.

Both teams head into the match knowing they will finish the day exactly where they start it but that does not mean there is nothing to play for at Franklin’s Gardens.

Saracens struck a potentially sizeable psychological blow last Saturday as they edged a 64-point thriller against champions Gloucester-Hartpury.

Fixture

PWR

Loughborough Lightning

24 - 33

Full-time

Saracens Women

All Stats and Data

That victory secured a home semi-final for Alex Austerberry’s side and they will be keen to continue their preparations for the play-offs with another win this weekend.

Austerberry welcomed back the club’s North American contingent for that win, Canada front row McKinley Hunt marking her return to England with a try.

With Zoe Harrison hitting top gear and the likes of Jess Breach, Georgia Evans and Marlie Packer all on form, the addition of Hunt, Lotte Clapp, Sophie de Goede and Paige Farries must be a frightening prospect.

Yet, Lightning will want to finish their season on a high and have the opportunity to prove they are the best of the rest.

Although fifth-placed Loughborough head into the final weekend 15 points adrift of Exeter Chiefs above them, they possess several exciting players, Emily Scarratt, Sadia Kabeya and Chloe Rollie chief among them.

None of that trio will want to take a backward step on their home turf, which should make Sunday’s meeting one to savour.

All the action is available to stream for free via RugbyPass TV except where there is a local broadcast deal in place (UK, Ireland, Canada and USA).

Sunday, 2 June

15:00 BST (GMT+1) – Loughborough Lightning v Saracens, Franklin’s Gardens – WATCH LIVE HERE

Samoa, Fiji vie for ticket to England

Japan became the eighth team to confirm their appearance at Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 this week, and they will be joined by a ninth come Sunday.

The Oceania Rugby Women’s Championship 2024 is set to continue this Wednesday when Fiji take on Papua New Guinea before Samoa play Tonga in Brisbane.

Defending champions Samoa did not take part in round one following the cancellation of their match against Papua New Guinea.

It means there is added significance to their encounter with Tonga, as they must win to prolong their Women’s RWC 2025 hopes until their showdown with Fiji on Sunday.

The Pacific Island nations have only met five times previously, but Samoa have won each of those matches against Tonga and ran out 69-5 victors in the corresponding fixture last year.

Meanwhile, Fiji beat Papua New Guinea 77-0 12 months ago and will be expected to win again at Sunnybank Rugby Club on Wednesday.

Should those two matches go with the form book then the tournament finale between Samoa and Fiji will become a winner-takes-all clash, with the victor booking their ticket to England 2025.

Whoever finishes the Women’s Championship in the top two will both play in WXV 3 this September and October.

Meanwhile, the Asia Rugby Women’s Championship 2024 will conclude on Saturday as hosts Hong Kong China take on Kazakhstan for a place in WXV 3.

Kazakhstan edged a tight affair 27-23 in Almaty last year, but Hong Kong will hope that home advantage proves decisive this weekend.

All the action from Brisbane and Hong Kong is available to stream live and for free worldwide on RugbyPass TV.

Wednesday, 29 May

08:30 BST (GMT+1) – Fiji v Papua New Guinea, Sunnybank Rugby Club – WATCH LIVE HERE

10:30 BST (GMT+1) – Samoa v Tonga, Sunnybank Rugby Club – WATCH HERE LIVE

Saturday, 1 June

11:30 BST (GMT+1) – Hong Kong China v Kazakhstan, Hong Kong Football Club – WATCH LIVE HERE

Sunday, 2 June

05:00 BST (GMT+1) – Tonga v Papua New Guinea, Sunnybank Rugby Club – WATCH LIVE HERE

07:00 BST (GMT+1) – Samoa v Fiji, Sunnybank Rugby Club – WATCH LIVE HERE

All eyes on SVNS Grand Final

Following seven tournaments and a global tour that started in Dubai last December, HSBC SVNS 2024 will draw to a close in Madrid this weekend.

Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano will play host to three days of scintillating rugby sevens as the overall series champions are decided in a winner-takes-all eight-team tournament.

Adding to the excitement in the Spanish capital, a further eight teams will compete for the final four places in next year’s series in the HSBC SVNS Play-off tournament.

New Zealand head to Madrid as the form team in the women’s series, having won four tournaments in a row to overhaul their fierce rivals Australia and claim the League Winners title.

A fifth successive gold medal would ensure they finish the season as overall champions, but they will face stiff competition from USA, Canada and Great Britain in Pool A.

Regular season runners-up Australia, meanwhile, will take on France, Fiji and Ireland for a place in the Grand Final Cup semi-finals.

The eight teams competing in the promotion-relegation tournament have also been split into two pools.

World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger winners China will play Japan, Spain and Poland in the pool stage, while Brazil, South Africa, Argentina and Belgium complete the line-up in the opposite group.

At the end of the qualifier pool stage, the teams will be ranked from one to eight and drawn to contest one-off play-offs for a place in HSBC SVNS 2025.

All the action from Madrid will be available to stream live and for free in the UK, Ireland, France, Japan and the USA. Viewers will be able to select a French language commentary option.

HSBC SVNS MAD

Day one – WATCH LIVE HERE

Day two – WATCH LIVE HERE

Day three – WATCH LIVE HERE

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Comments on RugbyPass

JW 36 minutes ago

Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

Yep NZ national u85 team is touring there atm I think (or just has).

144 Go to comments

JW 38 minutes ago

Warren Gatland finds out his fate as Wales undergo huge changes

What are they gonna do with the 500k and what does that achieve? They could dump the whole side and pick amateurs and save 10million, but what is that going to achieve?

The problem it feels like to me is I didn't hear what Gatland is going to do in order to win the 6N next year. How is he helping the problem. It just sounds like they're expecting miracles and for Gatland to turn around the national teams results, but what good is that when you're not fixing any of the problems and you'll just be back where you were when Gatland and the old players leave?

I think you are totally wrong in your stance. Wales abosolutely need to spend that 500k by investing in their future, it just doesn't sound like theyre giving Gatland any more resources to do it with. They're not using that 500k very well.

11 Go to comments

JW 48 minutes ago

James O'Connor on Crusaders preseason: 'I haven't experienced anything like it'

They would improve a lot of such a scheme were allowed though JD, win win :p

18 Go to comments

JW 51 minutes ago

James O'Connor on Crusaders preseason: 'I haven't experienced anything like it'

Yeah I actually think it was Havili that took it off him. Not bad himself, but on the advice of Razor, who didn't even pursue it and use Havili on a split bench as 10 cover?

One huge cluster#$@% but I think you could be right, I liked O'Connor when he won at the Reds and I've just got a funny feeling he's going to dominate Super Rugby, kinda like how Cooper came back to the Wallabies as an experienced head and spat out South Africa. I think James could do the same with the Blues and other Aus sides. I'd really love Rivez to get a lot of minutes though.

18 Go to comments

JW 58 minutes ago

Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

I rated Lowe well enough to be an AB. Remember we were picking the likes of George Bridge above such players so theres no disputing a lot of bad decisions have been made by those last two coaches. Does a team like the ABs need a finicky winger who you have to adapt and change a lot of your style with to get benefit from? No, not really. But he still would have been a basic improvement on players like even Savea at the tail of his career, Bridge, and could even have converted into the answer of replacing Beauden at the back. Instead we persisted with NMS, Naholo, Havili, Reece, all players we would have cared even less about losing and all because Rieko had Lowe's number 11 jersey nailed down.

He was of course only 23 when he decided to leave, it was back in the beggining of the period they had started retaining players (from 2018 onwards I think, they came out saying theyre going to be more aggressive at some point). So he might, all of them, only just missed out.

The main point that Ed made is that situations like Lowe's, Aki's, JGP's, aren't going to happen in future. That's a bit of a "NZ" only problem, because those players need to reach such a high standard to be chosen by the All Blacks, were as a country like Ireland wants them a lot earlier like that. This is basically the 'ready in 3 years' concept Ireland relied on, versus the '5 years and they've left' concept' were that player is now ready to be chosen by the All Blacks (given a contract to play Super, ala SBW, and hopefully Manu).

The 'mercenary' thing that will take longer to expire, and which I was referring to, is the grandparents rule. The new kids coming through now aren't going to have as many gp born overseas, so the amount of players that can leave with a prospect of International rugby offer are going to drop dramatically at some point. All these kiwi fellas playing for a PI, is going to stop sadly.

The new era problem that will replace those old concerns is now French and Japanese clubs (doing the same as NRL teams have done for decades by) picking kids out of school. The problem here is not so much a national identity one, than it is a farm system where 9 in 10 players are left with nothing. A stunted education and no support in a foreign country (well they'll get kicked out of those countries were they don't in Australia).

It's the same sort of situation were NZ would be the big guy, but there weren't many downsides with it. The only one I can think was brought up but a poster on this site, I can't recall who it was, but he seemed to know a lot of kids coming from the Islands weren't really given the capability to fly back home during school xms holidays etc. That is probably something that should be fixed by the union. Otherwise getting someone like Fakatava over here for his last year of school definitely results in NZ being able to pick the cherries off the top but it also allows that player to develop and be able to represent Tonga and under age and possibly even later in his career. Where as a kid being taken from NZ is arguably going to be worse off in every respect other than perhaps money. Not going to develop as a person, not going to develop as a player as much, so I have a lotof sympathy for NZs case that I don't include them in that group but I certainly see where you're coming from and it encourages other countries to think they can do the same while not realising they're making a much worse experience/situation.

144 Go to comments

Barry 1 hour ago

Loose Leinster scrape by Connacht to extend winning run

Could well be their year. Still winning games while playing utterly puke rugby.

1 Go to comments

JWH 2 hours ago

Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

NZ regularly plays games against Tonga, Fiji, and Samoa, and almost all of the players who play for NZ are born here. Its a bit like an English born Scot, or an Italian born Frenchman.

WR does NOT schedule matches for the big unions. It is a big union problem, not a problem for WR to fix for once.

144 Go to comments

JWH 2 hours ago

Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

Yes, I don't really rate Lowe and don't see him as a big loss. But PI players are more often leaving their home nation to play for a richer union like France or England or NZ, which is frankly just wrong.

144 Go to comments

JWH 2 hours ago

'Springbok Galacticos can't go it alone for trophy-hunting Sharks'

Why don't you tell me?

NZ regularly plays games against PI nations, Japan, and USA, expanding their unions and markets. What has SA done for the game, aside from winning RWCs and playing some really good rugby?

Nothing.

10 Go to comments

JW 3 hours ago

Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

Theyre just reference links to were they got the numbers from. Just couldn't be arsed removing them, theyre irrelevant.

Remember they'll be for all forms of rugby, and 'competition's as well as proper club leagues, for some of the more unique countries in the list. But yes, its fairly interesting what countries are getting upto with the game, Sri Lanka are just off that list. Have you watched Rugged Rugby on Netflix?

I really should check those references on Wales numbers. I had heard it was super popular down through the community, a bit like France in the south, but I'm still surprised by them. NZs mens numbers rose by 5% this year. Google list of rugby union playing countries.

144 Go to comments

JW 3 hours ago

Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

That 500 number is abroad. These idea's would be far more interesting imo.

144 Go to comments

JW 3 hours ago

Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

Fully agree. I'm happy to boost rugby's popularity in these countries for the mean time though. Well I'm happy for it to go on until it naturally stops tbh.

But yes, you wouldn't want it to come to the detriment of other countries, thankfully that's not happening imo.

144 Go to comments

JW 3 hours ago

Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

Why wouldn't they? Just throw the towel in?

They certainly aren't going to go to Scotland if theres no jobs.

144 Go to comments

JW 3 hours ago

Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

Bit of a rosy outlook that. Lets hope so at least!

144 Go to comments

JW 3 hours ago

Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

Still not as much as someone like Mitchell, so there's certainly room for more. But credit to him for his desire, he'd not played in consecutive CCs for the most part, but it doesn't look like he'd willingly missed a league game. What you appear to be giving credit to Toulouse for, as actually Lucu's willingness to play the full 80 mins in a third of his games. That's just very different of UBB, not Toulouse, surely?

They other thing I noted is that he appeared to have a bench backup on those equations. UBB never tried to create a player who can act as his cover and go with a bigger forward split on the bench? Would seem like the perfect opportunity.

144 Go to comments

GP 3 hours ago

Ex-Wallaby explains why All Blacks aren’t at ‘panic stations’ under Razor

I am looking forward to next year with some of the dead wood gone. Will Jordan getting a full season at fullback will help. From a Crusaders perspective his return and that of Braydon Ennor is going to be huge. They are class acts. A lot of people are going to be eating there words re the Crusaders are going to bounce back.

1 Go to comments

Jmann 3 hours ago

How the Black Ferns Sevens reacted to Michaela Blyde's code switch

Make some money, improve defence, play a massively less-complicated game for a year. Win yet another world cup... come back and dominate 7s for a few a season and maybe jump into the women's XVs and win back-to-back world cups in code. Go girl!

3 Go to comments

JW 4 hours ago

Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

The ones he listed or the African ones? I think problem for people like yourself is you just don't hear about all that is done, and I'd say it's much the same with us here not hearing anything about what SA is doing for Africa.

There's definitely a case for countries to get together for their own benefit as it's such a young sport everything is evolving and theres plenty of knowledge out their (from sports like football) to help that along. SANZAAR is the perfect example.

144 Go to comments

GP 4 hours ago

James O'Connor on Crusaders preseason: 'I haven't experienced anything like it'

You are right about Rivez Reihana, he had a long spell when he was out injured. When he came back, in the win over the Rebels and other games and played well. I rate him and glad he is back with the Crusaders. Taha Kemara I think will really step up, in fact he did not play much last year. Hohepa was the one who played. That was due to people's memories are selective or not that good.James O'Connor is out to prove a point and is focused. The injury situation last year was horrendous. I think the Crusaders will bounce back with a vengeance in 2025. Remember 2001 what happened , 2002 was a different story.

18 Go to comments

JW 4 hours ago

Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

That might be were you're going wrong, this thread was definitely comparing the two countries.

The issue that I pointed out to JV is he was acting like France's is solved/resolved, when it is clearly not. But yes, no is acknowledge SA's 2 months off shouldn't be consecutively, were just also not losing site that French players only have 1 month off and that introduces worse R&R.

144 Go to comments

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Latest Features

'Springbok Galacticos can't go it alone for trophy-hunting Sharks'

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