‘We belong on this level’: The rise of the Denmark Sevens side

They may not be known as an international 7s powerhouse yet, but Denmark 7s announced themselves into the top flight of European 7s in the first leg of the 2026 Rugby Europe Championship competition, placing ninth from twelve on their debut tournament.

It’s an impressive start considering four years ago they were placing tenth in the second tier Trophy competition. Since then, the programme has risen quietly through the Rugby Europe ranks, from tenth to eighth in the 2023 Trophy, to joint second in the 2024 Trophy before securing the highest ever finish at international level for Danish rugby in 2025, placing second in the Trophy and securing promotion behind Türkiye.

Their promotion to the first tier Championship for 2026 sees them compete amongst Europe’s strongest teams and Olympic hopefuls. In the first leg at Hamburg, they recorded two narrow losses in the groups, losing 19-17 to GB, 45-0 to Belgium and 14-12 to Ireland. But they found form in the knockouts, beating fellow Scandis Sweden 20-0, and then triumphing against GB 26-7 in a full circle moment to claim ninth.

Led by mastermind ex-Saracen and Loughborough Lightning pro Nina Vistisen, who is no stranger to winning trophies from her Premiership titles with Saracens, the Dane has returned to home soil and brought in an era of success for the Danish Kvinder.

Ahead of the second leg in Split this weekend, RugbyPass’ Bluebell Nicholls spoke to senior forwards Kinza Riahi and Mille Elmbak about Hamburg’s wins and the ambition for this young team.

The tournament marked many international firsts for the Danes. First appearance in the Championship, first try in the Championship – scored by Freja Halbech in their opening game. And first win in the tournament a day later, after they beat Sweden comfortably in the knockouts.

Riahi and Elmbak were both humbly confident about the realities of entering the top tier of the European Championships.

Riahi said, “Coming in as number 12, the goal for us was to stay in the Championship and still nothing is settled yet; we are aware. But at the same time, during that performance – I realised it’s not the same GB team that won last year – but being only a conversion away from the team that’s number one. To start the tournament like that was just crazy. We realised we could have won that game, we were so much the better team.

“Part of our preparation for the Championship was that we went to Hong Kong and brought our entire squad, including our development squad and we got to have fixtures against Canada and Fiji.

“Preparing ourselves against these teams and putting up a decent fight has shown us that we belong in this level.

“It is a bit daunting to think that, (although GB don’t have that set up anymore Riahi caveated) but a lot of these girls have Six Nations towels or the Irish girls played with the Olympics and we’re just a Danish team with an average age of twenty-two.

Elmbak agreed, “It was crazy to meet the teams in the Championship but also really confirming like how well we played together and our trust in each other even though we were playing against such good and professional teams, we managed to play really well against them.”

In a sport that is still so small in Denmark (Riahi said that perhaps there were maximum ten women’s teams in the country), the buy-in from the tight knit cohort of players to the programme has been hugely demanding.

“I don’t remember the last time I had a weekend off. It’s been a lot, but it’s because we’ve really been preparing and that all comes down to our main sponsor, Vikinor. They put so much money on us and really believe in the team, the cause and the dedication.

“We have six staff coming with us, sometimes even more, on every trip and they’re unpaid. It’s all volunteer-based. We have the world’s best S+C keeping us fit and putting a lot of time and energy into the programme.

“So the fact is it has all paid off – which is hard to say because we still have to survive next weekend and play well.

“It’s almost happening so fast, I can’t really take it in before the next thing happens.”

In growing the style and identity of Danish rugby, Riahi said that defence is where they have found strength. She commented.

“I think it’s something that really won us the Melrose title [the Hong Kong 7s Melrose Claymores title] was our defence. Like, I didn’t touch the ball in the last game and I played the whole game. We were so much in defence.

“But also I feel our strength is unleashing our other players. We also have some players like Mille [Elmbak] and Dimitria [Augoustinou] and Freja [Halbech] who are really good at having patience within the team and then we can exploit it. That is how we play.

This weekend in Split, they are looking to bolster their position and avoid relegation back to the Trophy. They face a competitive pool, meeting GB and Belgium yet again as well as fourth place Spain. Riahi and Elmbak expressed that Denmark 7s have big ambitions but knew the height of the task ahead of them.

Elmbak said, “Of course the main goal is to stay up but I mean to go to a quarterfinal would be awesome. But maybe I think the most realistic hope is we take ninth place again.”

“We have played a lot of teams like Georgia and Türkiye before, and we know that just because you won against the team before doesn’t mean you can do it again.”

Riahi urged that they have every opportunity to win big this weekend.

“We had to win every game when we had to win in the Trophy. And we still have that winning mentality but I think now it’s more realistic.

“We are this underdog team and we forget to believe that we can actually play pretty well so looking forward to Split is to keep up that performance and fighting for that quarterfinal spot and then feel like we’ve secured next year.

“I keep on saying to myself that we are really lucky to be here, but we are not lucky. We did fight really hard. We did play really well in the Trophy to be here in the Championship.”

“We’re not taking anything for granted. We’re really aware that we’re fighting for this ninth or tenth or whatever we’re going to play for it. So we’re not being cocky that we played well against GB but we don’t want to not believe in it. It’s the hard balance of trying to find our mental state.”

The dividends from the investment in this Denmark side are evident. It’s a young team brimming with confidence and cohesion – everything that is vital in a game of 7s. A winning mentality can take a team far, and it’s exciting to see just how far these players can go this season. The second leg of the Rugby Europe Championship begins on Friday 24th July 2026 in Split, Croatia, available to watch free on YouTube.