Andy Devaney
Dubai has never been shy about putting on a show, but this weekend it’s swapping fireworks for footwork as HSBC SVNS 3 returns to The Sevens Stadium less than two months after the top-tier series kicked off on the same turf. The selling point is wonderfully simple: eight men’s teams, eight women’s teams, a brand-new three-tier system, and a promotion prize that can change a programme’s future faster than a winger disappearing down the touchline.
This isn’t sevens as an exhibition. This is sevens as an audition. Play well and your season grows legs. Play poorly and the ladder gets kicked away.
Dubai’s back on the sevens circuit — and it’s not a friendly
World Rugby’s new structure has given the sport a clearer route to the top, but it has also made weekends like this one brutally honest. HSBC SVNS 3 is where ambition meets accountability: a short-format sport with long-term consequences.
The target is crystal clear. The top two men’s and women’s sides this weekend will earn promotion to HSBC SVNS 2, a three-event series in Nairobi, Montevideo and Sao Paulo across February and March. And once you’re there, you’re not just collecting stamps in your passport. You’re facing established sevens nations, including Hong Kong China, Kenya, Uruguay and the USA—the sort of opponents who punish sloppy restarts and half-hearted tackles like they’ve been personally offended.
Who’s playing at HSBC SVNS 3 in Dubai
There’s a genuinely global feel to the field, which is exactly the point of the new pathway.
Women’s teams
Argentina, Colombia, Czechia, Mexico, Poland, Samoa, South Africa and Thailand.
Men’s teams
Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Hong Kong China, Italy, Madagascar, Samoa and Tonga.
In other words: different styles, different systems, and a whole lot of pride. Sevens has always been a sport that rewards brave decisions, but in a promotion race it also rewards the teams who can stay disciplined when lungs start burning and space disappears.
The pathway: SVNS 3 to SVNS 2 to the World Championship Series
If the names and tiers make your eyes glaze over, here’s the clean version: do the business in Dubai, and you buy yourself three more chances to prove it.
Across SVNS 2, 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams will be chasing a top-four finish to secure a place in the elite HSBC SVNS World Championship Series. Then comes the winner-takes-all championship, featuring 24 teams across stops in Hong Kong (April), Valladolid (May) and Bordeaux (June).
That’s the ladder. Dubai is the first rung that matters.
Argentina’s message: high standards, clear priorities
Argentina arrive sounding like a team that understands what wins in sevens: details, clarity, and the ability to stick to a plan when chaos is trying to drag you into the gutter. Captain Paula Pedrozo set the tone in Dubai with a quote that’s equal parts ambition and realism.
“The team has high expectations,” Argentina captain Paula Pedrozo said, after the captain’s photograph in the dunes of Dubai. “We have been working hard to refine details and continue improving our defensive and attacking systems, analysing our opponents and, of course, analysing our strengths and weaknesses.
“The main objective is to qualify for SVNS 2. Winning the championship would be a nice bonus.”
That’s the sort of line coaches love: focus on the controllables, chase the promotion, let the trophies argue about themselves later.
Spain proved the door is real
If any team needs a reminder that HSBC SVNS 3 can be the start of something bigger, Spain’s men provided it last season. They finished tenth in the 2023–24 SVNS events, survived the playoffs, and secured their place in the 2025 Series—proof that progress in sevens is often less about a single miracle weekend and more about taking your chance, then refusing to give it back.
Spain didn’t just make up the numbers either. They reached the final of the HSBC SVNS World Championship in Los Angeles, narrowly losing to Australia, and established themselves as a team to beat on the world stage. That’s the blueprint Dubai’s challengers will be staring at: climb the ladder, then act like you belong there.
How to watch: free tickets in Dubai and RugbyPass TV worldwide
For fans, the access is refreshingly straightforward. Tickets for HSBC SVNS 3 are free at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai each day. And if you’re watching from home, Fans around the world will be able to watch every match live on RugbyPass TV, bringing the pace, collisions and chaos of sevens straight to global audiences.
In a sport that moves at full speed and decides futures in minutes, that’s about as good as it gets: a weekend in Dubai where the entry price is nothing—and the stakes are everything.
