Australia claimed their first HSBC World Championship title with a dramatic 26-19 win over South Africa in the final in Valladolid on Sunday, but needed some help from the TMO to do it.
The Blitzboks had scored at the end of play but the television match official intervened to disallow the try thanks to a forward pass from Gino Cupido in the lead-up, sending the Wallaby Sevens team into a celebration.
To be fair, the pass did look forward, and Australia were the better side in the final, and the Blitzboks should not have left it so late.
But the ending was dramatic in itself, and allowed the Australian men’s side to add to the gold medal won by their Women’s side earlier to do the double.
A nail-biter ends in delight for @Aussie7s 🏆#HSBCSVNS pic.twitter.com/arD2VcTtxy
— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) May 31, 2026
Despite the loss, the Blitzboks still lead the overall HSBC World Championship standings with 38 points, four ahead of Argentina and eight ahead of Australia with one tournament in France left to play.
Still, the loss would hurt the Blitzboks as they didn’t meet their own high standards, despite an exceptional semifinal win over Argentina that took them to the final.
On the Spanish weekend they were beaten twice by Australia, who had Joe Schmidt’s help in the build-up and will need to relook their tactics ahead of the final weekend in France next month.
The Blitzboks had started fast in this final, scoring through Shilton van Wyk and Sebastian Jobb in the opening minutes before James Turner and Ethan McFarland both scored to level things up at the break.
Then a brace of tries by Ben Dowling and player-of-the-final Henry Hutichson gave Australia the advantage going into the final minutes.
The Blitzboks hit back,scoring through Cupido with 40 seconds to go and went over again after the final whistle to level the scores, only to have the TMO intervene and give Australia the title.
BOK WOMEN FINISH NINTH
The Springbok Sevens Women' s team ended ninth after beating Brazil 19-12 in the ninth-place playoff on Sunday.
They beat Argentina 19-17on Saturday
“It was pleasing to finish with wins over Argentina and Brazil and coming so close against Fiji,” said coach Cecil Afrika.
“We want to be playing among the top eight sides and there is no reason why we cannot keep improving next weekend.”
Their improvement from 12th position in Hong Kong, where injuries had a huge impact on their preparations, was a good reward for the squad, who worked hard at their Stellenbosch base before arriving in Spain.