World Rugby announced the draw for the first tournament, from 20 to 22 April, on Thursday, with South Africa drawn in Pool B alongside Mexico, Madagascar and Czechia.

The Europeans will be first up at 09h22 on Thursday, before Mexico await at 12h38. With two matches per day for every team, the Bok Women will then play Madagascar at 11h10 on Friday, and if they qualify from their pool, they will feature in the Cup quarter-finals later on the same day.

The semi-finals and finals of both women’s and men’s competitions are scheduled for the third day. Twelve women and 12 men’s teams will participate.

The two tournaments will be played at Markötter Stadium in Stellenbosch, with the second leg scheduled for 28-30 April.

Springbok Women’s Sevens coach Renfred Dazel said the draw is a timely reminder of the challenges awaiting his squad to get to the ultimate prize, a single spot in the women’s section of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in 2024.

“It is indeed three very contrasting styles and each of those teams will challenge us in different ways,” said Dazel of the clashes.

“We don’t know much about Czechia and will rely on footage of them playing in the European competitions. What we have seen is tall, athletic players with good passing skills.

“We played against Mexico at the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens, but will also be guided by recent footage from their games.

“And we are well aware of Madagascar’s skills, they took us to the wire in last year’s Rugby Africa Sevens final and we were lucky to beat them. They also played at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Cape Town last September and did not disgrace themselves at all. They have arrived in Stellenbosch early this month already, so they are well prepared.”

Dazel – who finalised his training squad for the tournaments on Wednesday – said they will look no further than facing Czechia on the opening day: “That is the only match that counts for now, as we need to get off to a good start in the tournament.”

Rian Oberholzer, CEO of SA Rugby, said: “The growth of sevens across the globe has been phenomenal over the last few years and we are very excited to host the Challenger Series here in South Africa over the next few weeks.

“The inclusion of Rugby Sevens on the Olympic Games schedule since 2016 has been a great driver for the game. We've also seen the levels of competition on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series reach new highs and this will definitely have an impact on the quality on offer at the Challenger Series events.

“Best of luck to all the teams, but especially to our Springbok Women's Sevens team who will be aiming for a spot as a core team on the World Series, and to also book their spot to Paris in 2024,” added Oberholzer.

The overall winners will be determined by log points assembled over the two weekends. Should teams have equal log points, the points difference over the two weekends will come into play and if teams are still tied after that, the number of tries scored during the two tournaments will determine the winner.

World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series pools:
A: Poland, Colombia, Hong Kong China, Paraguay
B: South Africa, Madagascar, Mexico, Czechia
C: China, Belgium, Papua New Guinea, Thailand

The Springbok Women’s Sevens fixtures:

Thursday 20 April:
09h22: Czechia
12h38: Mexico

Friday 21 April:
11h10: Madagascar