Blitzboks can finish off SVNS season with a massive statement

The Springbok Sevens men's side can salvage a lot of pride from their up-and-down HSBC World SVNS Series season if they can put in a performance worthy of the jersey and win the final tournament in Los Angeles - the World Championship - that takes place this weekend.

There has been a lot said about the Blitzboks' season thus far - the highs of winning in Cape Town and the lows of Hong Kong, where the curse struck again to leave them missing out on the quarterfinals. While there has been progress since last season under Philip Snyman, he will be the first to admit they have not achieved all their goals this year

That being said, the final tournament - an eight-team shootout in the City of Angels - presents a perfect opportunity for the Blitzboks to stake a claim and close their season in style with a tournament win.

They have done well in US tournaments before, having rolled the dice and come out tops in Las Vegas when the event was there, winning in 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2017 and then when the tournament went to Los Angeles, they won a memorable first event there by beating Fiji 29-24 in extra time to claim the title.

Since then, their exploits in LA have been poor, and it was their form here two years ago that led to a coaching change and the return of Snyman as a caretaker coach as they slid in through the back door to qualify for the Olympics, where they eventually claimed bronze.

This weekend, however, there is no room for error in the two-day tournament as they have been pooled with newly crowned SVNS League champions Argentina, Olympic champions France and Great Britain.

The battles between the Blitzboks and the first two are well known and the margins are always slim when they face each other, while Great Britain caused the nightmare in Hong Kong with a big early victory thanks to a red card that the Blitzboks never recovered from.

So there is plenty to play for, and with just eight teams, and only two advancing to semifinals, the shootout format means the Blitzboks have to be at the top of their game from the start.

Snyman’s side has a few familiar faces back - including the team’s leading try-scorer Quewin Nortje and two-time World Series winners Ronald Brown and Mfundo Ndhlovu, who will all add to the campaign with their experience and talent.

And the pressure is on as well. A poor performance in LA will see the Blitzboks end with just one tournament victory and a bunch of thoughts on what could have been. If ever there was a time to define the season, this weekend is it.

SWEEPING CHANGES FOR WOMEN

World Rugby’s sweeping changes to the tournament formats for next season have dealt a blow to the Women's Sevens side’s hopes of scoring a place on the World Series circuit next season. The new format means the top eight that are in the World Championship race, will face off in the new shortened format, while the Women Boks still have something to play for.

The new format means the playoff that combines the bottom four sides from the World SVNS Series in a shootout with the top four sides from the Challenger series - where the Women Sevens team came from - will only be for qualification for the second-tier competition.

The teams that make the semifinals of this tournament automatically qualify for Division two, while the other four sides will have to fight it out for two places in their regional qualifying tournaments.

The news of the changes is also a massive blow to Kenya’s hopes of being in the top tier, as they finished ninth and therefore don’t qualify for next season’s Division one, despite being losing finalists in Singapore.

Kenya’s men’s and women’s teams face the same challenge as the Women’s Boks in trying to qualify for a Second Division spot.

Men’s Pools Los Angeles SVNS 2025

Pool A: Argentina, South Africa, France, GB

Pool B: Fiji, Spain, Australia, New Zealand

Pool A fixtures (SA times, all matches live on SuperSport)

South Africa

Saturday, 3 May

9:12pm: France

Sunday, 4 May

12:13am: Great Britain

3:46am: Argentina

Playoffs

Men’s Pools

Pool Play-Off A: Kenya, USA, Portugal, Samoa

Pool Play-Off B: Uruguay, Ireland, Germany, Canada

Kenya fixtures:

Saturday, 3 May

8:28pm: Samoa

11:51pm: Portugal

Sunday, 4 May

8:28pm: USA

Women’s Pools

Pool Play-Off A: Brazil, Spain, Kenya, Colombia

Pool Play-Off B: China, Ireland, South Africa, Argentina

Springbok Women’s fixtures

Saturday, 3 May

7:44pm: Ireland

11:07pm: China

Sunday, 4 May

7pm: Argentina

Kenya Women Fixtures:

Saturday, 3 May

9:12pm: Spain

Sunday, 4 May

12:35am: Brazil

7:44pm: Colombia