HSBC SVNS DIVISION 3 – PREVIEW, RESULTS AND REACTION

Hong Kong China Men’s 7s team arrived in Dubai on Sunday with less than a week to go for the crucial HSBC SVNS Division 3 tournament, which has replaced the former Challenger event. Eight men’s teams will be competing, but only the top two sides who reach the Final will progress and qualify for Division 2.

Details on how to follow the action live will be added to this article once confirmed.

A 12-man squad has now been confirmed as follows:

Team Management

Jevon GROVES – Head Coach

Peter JERICEVICH – Coach 

Robbie FERGUSSON – Coach

Stephen MUTCH – Head of Athletic Performance

Olivia WITHERS – Physiotherapist

Paul JOHN – Team Manager

Men’s Players (Club)

Sebastian BRIEN © (HKU Sandy Bay)

James CHRISTIE © (HK Scottish)

Jack COMBES (USRC Tigers)

Julien BOURRON (HKFC)

Liam HERBERT (USRC Tigers)

Max DENMARK (HKFC)

Callum McCULLOUGH (HKFC)

Harry SAYERS (Valley)

FONG Kit Fung (Kowloon)

Matthew RICKARD (HKU Sandy Bay)

Bryn PHILLIPS (Kowloon)

Alessandro NARDONI (HK Scottish)

Match Schedule

• Saturday 17 January: Tonga vs Hong Kong China (12:12 local / 16:12 HKT)
• Saturday 17 January: Samoa vs Hong Kong China (15:50 local /19:50 HKT)
• Saturday 17 January: Hong Kong China vs Colombia (18:44 local / 22:44 HKT)
• Sunday 18 January: Knockout Stages TBC

Preview

The squad gave the coaches one of the toughest selection headaches yet, as the depth of the talent pool has grown and competition is fierce, but there remains a healthy bond among the wider group.

Co-captain James Christie said, “It’s a super tight-knit group, and the competition among the guys has improved, which makes us better as a whole. Last year, we had a few strong words with each other after the Challenger in South Africa, which led to the dynamics changing. Instead of having a go at each other, we give better constructive criticism, and we take that into account, and that has made us better as a team and as individuals.”

Fellow co-captain, Seb Brien, added, “We have drawn lessons from Cape Town last year as it wasn't our best tournament, but we try to draw lessons from the good, bad and mediocre tournaments. All of the boys have been working really hard in the off-season and over Christmas.”

Pool A Opponents

On Saturday (17 January) Pitch 2 at The Sevens Stadium will see the three pool games played, and a top-two finish is required to make the Semi-Finals and keep the dream alive of moving on to the next division. 

Hong Kong China are in a competitive Pool A alongside HSBC SVNS regulars Samoa, as well as Tonga and Colombia.

Brien said of the pool, “In the group, Tonga and Samoa are always going to be tough. You never know what team Tonga will be bringing, while Samoa have been World Series regulars. We watched Colombia knock off Chile, which was a big surprise and shows you can't take them lightly either, as they have got a lot of handy players.”

Hong Kong China open the tournament and face Tonga first, who we last played in the Cape Town Challenger first leg in 2025, and who the boys narrowly beat 21-19 in the 9th Place Final, although Tonga came back strongly in the second half and nearly snatched the win. Hong Kong China had also faced Tonga in the second leg of the 2024 Challenger in Montevideo and were victorious 26-7, and in the third and final leg of the 2024 Challenger in Munich, where the boys recorded their biggest win of the last three encounters, 42-14.

Christie said, “Of course, the goal is to make those tournaments in the future, but we are focused on Tonga in the first game, looking at the process more than the outcome and play-by-play. You can't play the final in the first game, and you need to take it game by game.”

One of the more surprising teams to qualify for Dubai is Colombia, who narrowly defeated Chile 12-10 in their 2025 South American Sevens (Sudamérica Rugby Sevens) played at Villa María del Triunfo in Lima, Peru. Known as Las Tucanes, they had close wins over Paraguay (10-7), beat Guatemala 77-0 and Honduras 71-7 before upsetting Chile in the Men’s Final.

Chile had previously been the South American qualifier for Challenger over recent years and competed in the World Rugby Challenger Series in Los Angeles.

Hong Kong China’s final pool game is likely to be the toughest. Like Canada, who are in Pool B, Samoa were relegated from the top-tier HSBC SVNS Series in the 2024 Grand Final weekend. They will come into Dubai as one of the favourites, a team the boys have not played for some time. 

Manu Samoa 7s Head Coach, Matamua Junior Salima, has selected veterans and newcomers in his squad. Experienced players include Uaina Sione and Owen Niue as co-captains and Malakesi Masefau, while Faamanu Pone, Eletise Ese and Kyan Alo will all make their debuts for Samoa.

Samoa finished third overall across the three Challenger legs in 2025, but in the HSBC SVNS 2025 Play-Off in Los Angeles, they were beaten by Germany 31-0, who claimed the last remaining men’s spot for HSBC Division 2 in the process.

A player who has established himself in the Hong Kong China squad over the last year is Julien Bourron, who explained, “Selection now is much harder for the SVNS 3, and playing on that big stage for me personally would be a really big step up compared to what I have previously done and will be the hardest challenge yet, and I am extremely excited.”

Possible Knockout Opponents (from Pool B)

If successful in reaching the Semi-Finals by being in the top two in the pool, Sunday will see the knockout games played. Pool B favourites should be HSBC SVNS World Series regulars Canada, with the other teams being Madagascar, Belgium, and Italy. The most likely Semi-Finalists of the four are Canada are Madagascar.

Canada, since losing its place in the World Series in 2024, has dominated the RAN (Rugby Americas North) 7s in 2024 and 2025 to qualify for the Challenger last year and the SVNS 3 event in Dubai in 2026. They have not lost a match in both years of the RAN 7s and in 2025 won all six matches, concluding with a 31-0 win over Barbados in the final.

Hong Kong China last faced the Canadians in the first leg of the Cape Town Challenger 2025, when the boys lost 12-21 in the pool stages. Canada went on to qualify for the third leg in Poland and made the top four to compete at the HSBC SVNS 2025 Play-Off in Los Angeles, where they lost out on a top-four finish to qualify for SVNS Division 2, defeated by Kenya.

Madagascar were a surprise package at the Challenger legs in Cape Town last year and beat Hong Kong China twice across the two legs. We were defeated 19-21 in the first leg pool stage and 10-24 in the 9th Place Final in the second leg. Madagascar also defeated Japan and qualified for the third leg of the Challenger hosted in Krakow, but they didn't qualify for the HSBC SVNS 2025 Play-Off in Los Angeles.

They have made it to Dubai on the back of another great showing in the Africa 7s 2025, where they finished runner-up to South Africa, losing 12-26 in the final and finished ahead of Kenya.

Experienced campaigner Liam Herbert said the players have put in a real shift over the past year and changed their conditioning and preparedness.

“After all of the training we have done, and the backing we have had from the coaches and enduring the hot boxes in conditioning, which we have not done before, it's changed us a lot since last time. 

“We are training in 37 degrees and conditions we will expect in Dubai for SVNS 3, so I am confident we will be ready to go from the first game. The guys are hissing to play. We know it could also be our last tournament of the year if we don't play well, so the lads are really ready to give it their best shot.”

Qualification to SVNS Division 2 and Beyond)

The two men’s teams that qualify from Division 3 will join Kenya, Uruguay, Germany and the USA for the three legs in Division 2, which will be played in Nairobi, Montevideo and Sao Paulo in February and March 2026.

A top-four finish among the six teams in Division 3 across the three legs will earn a spot in the three-event HSBC SVNS World Championship in April, May and June, and a chance to get into the core 7s HSBC SVNS Series for the 2026-27 season.

This article was posted in collaboration with our good friends at RugbyAsia247 – check them out for all the latest Asia Rugby news!