Division Two and Women's Division Revamped for 2026 SportPesa National Sevens Circuit

The 2026 National sevens circuit is set to kick off in just nine days starting of with the Prinsloo7s on the 25th and 26th of July at the Nakuru athletics club .This year the competition will feature a new format which is a bit different from previous years with a change especially in the division two and the ladies category.

The Division One competition will retain its traditional format, with 16 teams split into four pools of four. Following the opening day's pool matches, the top two teams from each pool will advance to the Cup quarter-finals on day two before progressing through the semi-finals and final, while the remaining eight teams will compete in placement playoffs to determine positions 9th to 16th.

One of the biggest changes to this year's circuit comes in Division Two, which has been reduced from 20 teams to 16. Instead of the traditional five-pool format, teams will now be divided into four pools of four, mirroring the Division One structure, with the same progression from pool stages to the Cup quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final. The 16-team lineup will comprise the four teams relegated from Division One in the previous leg, the top four Division Two finishers from the previous leg other than the one which will have been promoted to division one , and the remaining nine with first priority being given to the regional teams selected from the host region of each tournament.

In the ladies category,all eight teams will be in one division that will be split across two pools each having four teams.After the pool games based off merit all eight teams will then progress to the quarter finals.At the quarters only four teams will make it through to the semi-finals and progressively to the finals.The four teams that will not have made it through to the semi-finals will face off against each other in the fifth place semi-finals with the two winning teams playing off in the fifth place finals.The two teams that will have lost in the fifth place semi -finals will be ranked off at position seven and eight based on points.