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Challenger Series dominators China secure place in Madrid play-offs
By Ian Cameron
Runaway league leaders China have secured their place at the HSBC SVNS promotion and relegation play-off competition in Madrid after Day 1 of the women’s HSBC Challenger Series in Krakow.
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China – who came into the tournament as leaders after victories in the initial rounds in Dubai and Montevideo – continued their dominant form in Poland. With three wins from three matches, they topped Pool A and ensured their qualification for the prestigious HSBC SVNS play-off in the Spanish capital.
The quarter-final match-ups, which will commence at 11am local time on Sunday were confirmed following Saturday’s pool play. Argentina will face Kenya; hosts Poland will compete against Czechia; China will take on Uganda and Paraguay will go up against Belgium.
In Pool A China kept their dominant record intact by winning all their matches. Czechi – despite a slow start with a 24-12 loss to China – bagged victories over Hong Kong China and Thailand. They secured second place in the pool.
Pool B saw Argentina dominate. They won all their matches against Paraguay, Papua New Guinea and Uganda. This has set them up for a quarter-final clash with Kenya, who finished third in the pool.
In Pool C hosts Poland began the day with a narrow loss to Kenya after they missed a crucial conversion in the dying moments of the game. They quickly rebounded howwever with an impressive 55-0 victory over Mexico and a thrilling extra-time win against Belgium – finishing at the top of their pool.
Poland will face Czechia in what promises to be an exciting quarter-final match.
China’s Head Coach Lu Zhuan said: “We joined the circuit in 2018, and it was a pity that we didn’t make it the last time. But we’re really looking forward to the opportunity to try to join the world circuit this time around. We’ve always worked hard throughout the season, bringing joy into our training while working super hard. We hope to bring that to the game and perform at our best in Madrid.”
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Argentina’s Micaela Pallero said: “We feel really good, we came for the three matches today and we went step by step and we are already set in our minds for tomorrow.
“Our strength has been our defence and we weren’t as strong as we wanted today, so we are going to work on that and see the videos and analyse what happened today and we’re going to focus on having a stronger defence for tomorrow.”
Fans around the globe can watch the action live on rugbypass.tv.