At the start of the 2026 season, the Springbok Sevens committed themselves to giving everything to build a squad and a value system that will conquer all, and that job is not done yet.
While recent successes in the HSBC SVNS Series have fuelled that desire, and now, with the World Championship title at stake, Blitzbok captain Impi Visser said they have two more steps on the ladder and will not stop in their desire to reach the top.
The South Africans finalised their preparation for this weekend’s HSBC SVNS Valladolid after a late arrival on Monday resulted in only one intense training session on Tuesday. Earlier on Wednesday, Visser was on duty at the traditional captains’ photo before the tournament kicks off on Friday.
“We have met most of the objectives we set for ourselves, but it is not done as we’ve not achieved everything we’ve committed to,” Visser said on Wednesday.
“We have done good things thus far, but we must keep reminding ourselves and pushing each other that the job is not done yet.
“That fuels the fire in the squad, and our session yesterday was sharp, despite the long travel to get here. Luckily, it is quite hot here, as we prefer these conditions, especially after the rain back home last week.”
The Blitzboks have suffered very few injury disruptions this season, and that has helped in the momentum.
“We have three changes from Hong Kong with Dewald (Human), Ricky (Duarttee) and Gino (Cupido) back, but all of them played during the regular season and slotted back in nicely, so we are good to go,” said Visser.
“We had some time post Hong Kong to work on some soft skills and fine-tune our strategies for this tournament. So, we came prepared.”
Visser said that without showing up with the right attitude and mindset at Estadio Jose Zorrilla on Friday, their Pool A matches against Great Britain, Kenya and Australia can easily go south.
“We had a slow start in Hong Kong and then had to scramble to get back into it, and we don't want that to happen again,” he said. “The focus now moves to Great Britain, who is really good at the breakdown; Kenya, who is so physical; and then Australia, who is very skilful. It is going to be a competitive pool, and we need to be at our best.”
South Africa’s Pool A fixtures (SA times, all matches live on SuperSport):
Friday 29 May
12h34: Great Britain
17h08: Kenya
Saturday, 29 May
13h23: Australia
HSBC SVNS World Championship standings:
1 South Africa – 20 pts
2 Argentina – 18
3 Spain – 16
4 New Zealand – 14
5 Fiji – 12