Kenya Sevens, Lionesses qualify for World Rugby Division Two series

Shujaa and Kenya Lionesses have secured promotion to the HSBC SVNS Series Division II after impressive performances at the promotion and relegation playoffs held over the weekend at Dignity Health Sports Park in Los Angeles.

Shujaa began the low-key Los Angeles Sevens with a 19-12 defeat to Samoa before beating Portugal 26-14. A narrow 17-12 defeat to the USA in extra time meant Kenya had to beat Canada to qualify for Division II in a winner-takes-all playoff.

On the other hand, Lionesses endured a difficult start to their HSBC Challenger Series playoff journey, losing 33-14 to Spain in their opener before falling 28-10 to Brazil.

However, they bounced back strongly with a narrow 7-5 victory over Colombia, a win that secured their spot in the promotion playoff against South Africa.

The pool winners secured their SVNS division two status automatically with Brazil and China women and USA and Uruguay men securing their spots thanks to a hat-trick of pool wins.

Meanwhile, the teams who finished second and third in their pools faced a winner-takes-all playoff final match on Sunday for a place in the SVNS Division Two.

Both Kenya's teams were successful, with the men beating Canada 24-5 and the women overcoming South Africa 17-14, to delight their large contingent of fans inside the stadium.

Shujaa and Lionesses were dealt a huge blow by World Rugby after the global rugby governing body announced new changes to the World Rugby Sevens Series format last week on Thursday.

The new structure introduces a devolved, three-division hosting model that expands the series from 10 to 13 events in 2026.

HSBC SVNS Division 1 will see core team numbers reduce from 12 to eight per gender in a six-tournament series, with all events adopting a two-day format.

Division 1 will feature eight men's and eight women's teams competing in six high-impact SVNS Series events, while in Division 2, six teams per gender compete in a second division across three events.

The Division 3 will be a standalone Challenger event with eight teams per gender, qualifying from regional competitions.

The season finale to determine the world champion will involve three blockbuster SVNS World Championship Series events with the top 12 men's and women's teams (eight from Division 1, four from Division 2).

With that in mind, the eight teams competing in the HSBC SVNS World Championship this weekend in Los Angeles will form the HSBC SVNS Division 1 teams for the 2026 Series.

The teams that finish with final rankings of 9th-12th from the LA Playoff Tournament will qualify for SVNS 2 - in the 2025/26 season.

For Kenya Sevens who finished ninth, it meant they were technically out of the Division One. It was more heartbreak for Lionesses, who despite being crowned the Challenger Series champions, they were out.

Shujaa and Lionesses will prepare for the new look league set for next year.