Rugby sevens fans can look forward to some mouth-watering match-ups at the third round of HSBC SVNS 2025 in Perth on 24-26 January following Thursday’s pool draw at HBF Park.
HSBC SVNS Perth Ambassadors Sera Naiqama, Matt Hodgson and Australia Wallaroos captain Michaela Leonard gathered at HBF Park to draw the pools for the highly anticipated event.
Hosts Australia were drawn in men’s pool A with reigning SVNS league winners Argentina, Cape Town champions South Africa and the USA.
Olympic champions France are in pool B alongside Spain, Great Britain and Ireland in an all-European affair.
Fiji and New Zealand will go into battle in pool C along with newly promoted Kenya and Uruguay.
Women’s Olympic champions New Zealand will face Japan, Ireland and Brazil in pool A.
Olympic silver and bronze medallists Canada and the USA respectively are in pool B together with Great Britain and Fiji.
Hosts and HSBC SVNS 2024 Champions Australia are in pool C with France, China and Spain.
After two action-packed tournaments in Dubai and Cape Town kicked off the HSBC SVNS 2025 campaign in December, it is all to play for with four different teams claiming the titles to date.
Olympic champions New Zealand lead the women’s standings following victory in Cape Town. Australia’s women got off to a flying start with gold in Dubai, featuring some of the biggest stars in world rugby, including the newly crowned World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year Maddison Levi who scored a record-breaking 15 tries in a single tournament in Dubai.
Fiji led the men’s standings and were back to their thrilling best taking gold in Dubai, while South Africa thrilled their fans with victory on home soil in Cape Town.
The match schedule will be confirmed shortly. In a landmark first, the women’s final will be the last showpiece match of the tournament, taking centre stage on Sunday evening in Perth.
World Rugby Sevens General Manager Sam Pinder said: “Today’s HSBC SVNS Perth pool draw has delivered some mouth-watering match-ups and kicks off an exciting year for rugby sevens with Perth set to deliver another festival of world-class sevens, music and entertainment in a festival atmosphere at HBF Park.
“The opening two rounds of HSBC SVNS 2025 showed it is all to play for on the pitch with four different winners so far and exciting new talent emerging alongside many of the stars of the Olympic Games. We are all set for what promises to be another exhilarating event in the Perth sunshine.”
Australia women’s head coach Tim Walsh said: “We had a fantastic Dubai tournament, statistically one of our best ever and looked unstoppable, but were a bit complacent in Cape Town where we slipped and have learnt lessons.
“It was a fantastic tournament in Perth last year so we’re really looking forward to getting on the plane, putting on a show and doing our best to get the win. We’ve been at the top of our game for over a decade with a lot of big occasion experience and we’re really looking to express ourselves in Perth.”
Australia men’s player Henry Paterson said: “It’s a super tight draw. There’s no easy game for anyone on the sevens circuit and if you want to win the competition you have to beat everyone.”