31 October 2026
The South African Deaf Rugby Sevens team split their opening day fixtures at the World Deaf Rugby Sevens Championship in Tokyo, recovering from an initial setback to dominate New Zealand. The "Deaf Bokke" showed immense tactical resilience across two bruising encounters at the Edogawa Athletic Stadium.
In their tournament opener, South Africa fell 26-17 to a clinical Fijian outfit. Trailing 14-10 at the halftime whistle, South Africa fought back into contention and narrowed the deficit to 19-17 with only minutes remaining on the clock. Fiji ultimately secured the result with a late converted try, capitalising on late defensive pressure to seal the win.
The squad responded emphatically in their second match of the day, securing a 33-12 victory over New Zealand. Despite conceding a late first-half score to hold a narrow 14-12 lead at the break, South Africa dominated the second period entirely. The Deaf Bokke ran in 19 unanswered points through clinical ball distribution and superior breakdown execution to level their tournament record.
Attention now turns to a grueling three-match schedule tomorrow, Sunday 1 November, which will dictate South Africa's knockout seeding. The team faces the Barbarians at 04:15 SAST, before taking on defending champions Wales at 08:51 SAST and closing their pool stage campaign against Samoa at 10:58 SAST.