The race to win the men’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2022 is wide open following two pulsating weekends of action in Singapore and Vancouver.
South Africa continues to lead the way but their cushion at the top of the standings has been cut to just six points following Argentina’s win in Canada.
South Africa will hope to use the time between now and kick-off in southwest France on 20 May to put their performances in Singapore and Vancouver behind them as they target getting back to winning ways.
Having won six Series events in a row, the Blitzboks’ 36-match unbeaten run came to an end in Singapore when they lost to the USA, and they failed to get past the Cup quarter-finals at either the National Stadium or BC Place.
Both Argentina and Australia are now primed to capitalise on any further slip-ups from the Blitzboks.
Victory in Canada gave the Argentineans a first Series gold medal since 2009 when current coach Santiago Gómez Cora’s nine tries helped the team to Cup success in San Diego.
“You have to dream because dreams come true,” Gómez Cora said following Argentina’s win in Vancouver, and as the men’s Series heads back to Europe, to Toulouse, he would be forgiven for fantasising about leading the team to a maiden Series title.
Maurice Longbottom’s late conversion of Nathan Lawson’s try at BC Place secured a second successive bronze medal for Australia, who recovered from going 19-7 down against Samoa to win 21-19. John Manenti’s side is third in the standings, 11 points behind South Africa with three tournaments to play.
There are really not enough tournaments left in the 2022 Series for Fiji to mount a title challenge, but the past two weekends belonged to the Olympic champions as they claimed 41 points out of a possible 44.
Ben Gollings’ side, who missed January’s tournaments in Malaga and Seville, lost the opening match of their comeback, 21-12 against Ireland, but rebounded impressively to win their next 10 in a row across Singapore and Vancouver.
That run enabled them to claim the Cup title in Singapore, their first Series gold medal since February 2020, and took them to the final at BC Place, in which they lost to Argentina.