Captains of the world’s best 12 men’s and women’s rugby sevens teams gathered on a rooftop in view of the iconic Table Mountain on Wednesday as Cape Town gets ready to host the second round of HSBC SVNS on 7-8 December.
Following a spectacular opening round in Dubai last weekend, Australia and Fiji lead the women’s and men’s HSBC SVNS standings respectively after claiming gold in Dubai with victories over New Zealand and Spain respectively.
Stars of the recent Olympic Games in Paris will be showcasing their incredible speed, strength and skills at DHL stadium while South African fans will have the chance to cheer the Olympic bronze medal-winning Blitzboks on their home turf.
With 91 players across the 24 squads making their SVNS debuts in Dubai last weekend there are also many exciting fresh faces looking to make their mark at the pinnacle level of global rugby sevens.
Men’s Olympic champions France are looking to retain their SVNS Champions crown after they defeated SVNS league winners Argentina to claim the inaugural men’s title in 2024. Meanwhile, New Zealand’s women secured their second successive Olympic title in Paris and will be aiming to reclaim the SVNS Champions title they lost to Australia in 2024.
The HSBC SVNS action kicks off at 09:00 local time (GMT+2) on both Saturday and Sunday with pool matches throughout day one. The cup semi-finals begin at 13:12 on Sunday, and the event climaxes with the women’s gold medal final at 18:35, followed by the men’s final at 19:11 local time.
HSBC SVNS Cape Town sees the introduction of a new competition format featuring four pools or three teams with the pool winners proceeding directly to the semi-finals, while teams finishing second in their pool will compete in the fifth to eighth place playoffs and teams finishing third in their pools play off for ninth to twelfth positions.
The new format is based on player welfare considerations and has been introduced following consultation with teams and other stakeholders. It will be implemented for the second rounds of ‘back-to-back’ events, in Cape Town and Singapore, which are played on the weekends immediately following the events in Dubai and Hong Kong respectively.
This competition format is optimal for a two-day event, which allows teams an extra day of recovery and preparation following the previous weekend’s event and subsequent travel. More than ever it means every match counts from the first kick-off.
The pools for Cape Town were allocated based on rankings at the end of the Dubai tournament.
Men’s Pool A sees Dubai champions Fiji paired with Great Britain and Uruguay. Spain is in pool B following their outstanding run to the final – their first in SVNS history – in Dubai, together with Australia and recently promoted Kenya. Pool C involves Argentina, hosts South Africa and Ireland. While Pool D sees New Zealand matched with Olympic champions France and the USA.
Women’s Pool A sees Dubai winners Australia against Olympic silver medallists Canada and Brazil. Olympic champions New Zealand are in pool B with Japan and China. Pool C is an all European affair with France, Ireland and Spain. Finally, in pool D Great Britain takes on the USA and Fiji.
Australia women’s captain Isabella Nasser said: “We are super confident coming into Cape Town off the back of victory in Dubai where we performed really well but we also have lots of work-ons too so we’re really excited to keep the momentum going in to Cape Town and hopefully perform again. We love soaking in the energy in Cape Town and putting it back out on the field, so we try to give back to the crowd just as they give to us. For many of our girls, it’s one of their favourite tournaments on the tour.”
Reflecting on their epic final win over New Zealand in Dubai last weekend she added: “New Zealand are such an incredible team and great sportswomen both on and off the field so it’s always awesome to be playing in a final against them and to get the win was the cherry on top.”
South Africa men’s co-captain Zain Davids said: “We are honoured to play around the world in iconic cities and stadiums, but this will always be so special to us. It is not only having the opportunity to play in front of family and friends but also that unique ‘gees’ that a rugby crowd in Cape Town brings. It just feels different from any other stadium and tournament. We really owe our supporters a big one and that is what we intend to do.”