The Blitzboks have won the World SVNS Series - so they’re World Champions, right?
Well, not quite. While it is true that the Springbok Sevens side won the elite World SVNS Series league last month with back-to-back wins in Vancouver and New York, that was only the first phase of the SVNS season.
In its wisdom, World Rugby made several changes to the Sevens season to “streamline” the World Series and create a three-tournament World Championship series that is supposed to be the crown jewel of the Sevens season.
In short, last season had a World Sevens Series and one season-ending World Championship. That is why South Africa could claim to be World Champions after winning the season-ending tournament in Los Angeles last season, even though they never featured higher than fourth on the World Sevens Series season.
SO WHAT HAS THE BLITZBOKS WON?
Philip Snyman’s side won four of the six tournaments on the HSBC World SVNS Series - notching up wins in Cape Town, Perth, Vancouver and New York on their way to the title.
The Series came down to the final match in New York where they needed to beat Fiji to win the title, and subsequently did.
WHAT HAPPENS NOW?
Each competition includes 12 teams, made up of eight core teams from the HSBC SVNS Series and four qualifiers from HSBC SVNS 2.
These teams compete across three consecutive three-day tournaments, with performances across all events determining the overall World Champions, as well as promotion and relegation for the next season.
The Championship begins in Hong Kong at the iconic Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, before moving to Europe for a double-header finale.
Valladolid (Spain) will host the second event from 29-31 May, followed by the final tournament in Bordeaux (France) from 5-7 June, where the 2026 HSBC SVNS World Champions will be crowned.
The teams that have qualified from SVNS 2 are Germany, Kenya, Uruguay and USA in the Men’s competition and South Africa, Brazil, Argentina and Spain in the Women’s competition.
But does it mean anything for the Blitzboks to have won the World SVNS Series if the World Champion will only be crowned at the end of these three tournaments?
Yes, although it is not as prestigious as it used to be. Winning the SVNS Series means the Blitzboks have automatically qualified as a core team for next season’s Series - and are the only team assured of a place.
The other seven core spots will come down to performances in the three World Championship tournaments.
SO THE SPRINGBOK WOMEN HAVE QUALIFIED?
Yes, they qualified the hard way, winning the SVNS3 tournament in Dubai by beating Argentina and therefore qualifying for the SVNS2 tournaments.
Here they finished third and qualified for the World Championship after consistent performances.
Nairobi (February): Finished second after a sudden-death victory over Argentina in their final match.
Montevideo (March): Recorded wins against Brazil (26-0) and Kenya (27-0) but suffered a 22-10 defeat to Argentina.
Sao Paulo (March): Despite being severely depleted by injuries, the team finished fifth in Brazil, ending with a gutsy 14-10 win over China.
WHO DOES SOUTH AFRICA PLAY THIS WEEKEND IN HONG KONG?
Men:
Friday
05.39 am vs Uruguay
08.49am vs Spain
Saturday
04.39 vs Argentina
Women
Friday
06.25 vs Australia
09.12 vs Canada
Saturday
05.04 vs Great Britain
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES TEAMS
Women: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Fiji, France, Great Britain, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, USA
Men: Argentina, Australia, Fiji, France, Germany, Great Britain, Kenya, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, Uruguay, USA