Japan women and Uruguay men win promotion to HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2023

There were scenes of celebration for Japan women and Uruguay men who won the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series at Estadio Sant Laura in Santiago, Chile on Sunday.

In doing so, both teams achieved the coveted prize of promotion to the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2023.

Japan’s women were a force to be reckoned with all weekend and handled the wet conditions in the final superbly to claim a 17-0 victory over Poland, who had been free-scoring on their route to the final.

The result represents a remarkable turnaround for Japan who were relegated from the Series in 2018 and were disappointed to finish in last position at their home Olympic Games in Tokyo last year.

Uruguay’s men were overjoyed to secure their place in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series for the first time in history thanks to a 19-5 victory over Georgia in a hotly contested final.

Earlier in the day Georgia had ended the hosts hopes of winning on home soil with a dominant 31-14 defeat of Chile in the first men’s semi-final.

Uruguay kept South American interest in the competition alive with a 19-15 win over Germany to take their place in the final.

Poland produced a scintillating second half comeback in the first women’s semi-final against China. Down 10-0 at half time they responded with X second half tries to secure their place in the final with a 22-15 victory.

Japan saw off a valiant challenge from Kenya in the second semi-final, claiming a 22-15 win thanks to a hat-trick of tries from Wakaba Hara.

The schedule for the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2023 has been confirmed with the men’s teams kicking off in Hong Kong on 4-6 November 2022, while the women’s competition begins in Dubai on 2-3 December as part of a combined event.