Dan Carter hails SVNS 'excitement' as World Championship lineup confirmed

It’s all to play for in Los Angeles next month when the HSBC SVNS Series heads Stateside for the winner-takes-all World Championship on May 3-4 at Dignity Health Sports Park, which is also the host venue for rugby sevens at the LA 2028 Olympic Games.

After six regular season events around the world, New Zealand’s Black Ferns Sevens and Los Pumas Sevens from Argentina were crowned league winners in Singapore. New Zealand and Fiji also triumphed in Cup Finals at the National Stadium on Sunday.

But the race to become overall SVNS Series champions heats up with an enthralling season finale in LA only a matter of weeks away.

The top eight teams in men’s and women’s sevens will battle it out in a fight for the SVNS Series’ top prize. As for the other four teams on the Series, they’re set to take on the best sides from the second-tier Challenger Series in a play-off.

LA’s Dignity Health Sports Park will host the World Championship and SVNS Series playoffs on May 3-4. Don’t miss out – buy your tickets HERE.

Great Britain secured their place at the World Championship during the Hong Kong Sevens at Kai Tak Stadium. The Brits join Argentina, Spain, Fiji, South Africa, France, Australia and New Zealand in the men’s top eight ahead of the stop in the City of Angels.

Much like their countrymen, the Great Britain women’s side were one of the last teams to punch their ticket to the World Championship. With ninth-place Brazil losing to competitions heavyweights New Zealand on Saturday, Fiji will also challenge for the overall SVNS Series crown.

Incredibly, Fiji finished second at last month’s Hong Kong Sevens but weren’t guaranteed a World Championship spot until the second-last day of the regular season. The other six women’s teams are New Zealand, Australia, France, Canada, the USA and Japan.

Two-time Rugby World Cup winner Dan Carter attended the SVNS event in Singapore for the first time over the weekend, and the legendary All Black was full of praise for the upcoming World Championship which “brings that element of edge and excitement.”

“I like it. In the rugby calendar, it’s nice to have something to work towards and then high-pressure situations,” Carter told RugbyPass in Singapore.

“You see it in a lot of other sports as well; you compete in a series and then you have your champion at the end and then you go into a finals series. It just brings that element of edge and excitement and things can happen.

“Look at last year, how dominant Argentina was throughout the Series and then France, they just came and were victorious in Madrid. Once again, they’ve dominated Argentina and it doesn’t guarantee that they’re going to go to LA and win.

“It’s all on the line and also the repechage games as well to give some of the lower-tier nations a chance to compete against the best teams as well. Really enjoying the format of the Series.”

This event pits the world’s best rugby sevens athletes against one another with everything on the line as far as SVNS Series dreams go. There are no second chances for these teams in a bid to become world champions in 2024/25.

The pools were confirmed after last weekend’s event in Singapore. The eight sides were spread across two groups, with the top two teams progressing to the semi-finals.

League winners Argentina have been pitted against South Africa, France and Great Britain in Pool A. Singapore champions FIji have been drawn into a pool of death with traditional foe New Zealand, Australia, and one of the Series’ most consistent sides this season in Spain.

In women’s sevens, back-to-back league winners New Zealand will face Olympic silver medallists Canada, Japan and Great Britain in Pool A. Singapore runners-up Australia headline Pool B, which also includes France, the USA and Fiji.

The other sides from the SVNS Series will face the top-four teams from the second-tier Challenger Series in play-off matches. Kenya, Uruguay, Ireland and the USA are the four nations from the men’s competition, while Brazil, China, Ireland and Spain are the women’s teams.

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Men’s pools for SVNS Series World Championship

Pool A: Argentina, South Africa, France, Great Britain

Pool B: Fiji, Spain, Australia, New Zealand

Women’s pools for SVNS Series World Championship

Pool A: New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Great Britain

Pool B: Australia, France, USA, Fiji