Historic weekend reaches glorious crescendo for the Blitzboks and Black Ferns Sevens

New Zealand and South Africa won the women’s and men’s titles respectively to cap an incredible three days as HSBC SVNS touched down in Hong Kong for the first leg of this year’s three-tournament World Championship series.

There were also podium finishes for France’s women and Spain’s men who won their third-place play-off matches against Canada and New Zealand respectively to claim the bronze medal.

Fifty years on since the sport’s first tournament at its spiritual home, huge crowds saw a feast of action with Saturday’s 41 457 fans setting a new record for Hong Kong Sevens for a single day attendance.

The iconic event, which created a party atmosphere, was hailed as a huge success by World Rugby Chair Brett Robinson.

“Congratulations Hong Kong for 50 glorious years of the iconic Hong Kong Sevens. And what a way to celebrate with rugby’s biggest party weekend.

“For World Rugby and fans around the Hong Kong Sevens holds a special place in our hearts. It put sevens on the map. It has played it role in rugby’s global growth and it has been instrumental in Sevens joining the Olympic Programme.

“It is an event where tradition and innovation goes hand in hand. The new Kai Tak stadium epitomises that. It is a great place for rugby. The fans love it. We love it.”

Defending champions New Zealand edged out fierce rivals Australia 19-14 in the women’s final to once again reaffirm their status as the best side in the world.

An eagerly-awaited clash saw the Black Ferns Sevens secure a fourth straight title in Hong Kong and maintain their recent dominance over Australia.

It was another close-fought affair but New Zealand were worthy victors in a game which saw the brilliant duo of Jorja Miller and Maddison Levi both get on the scoresheet again.

After their sixth title of the season, Player of the Final Risi Pouri-Lane said: “To come here and play in a final at the home of Sevens Rugby – in such an iconic stadium has been an awesome privilege.

“The girls showed grit and heart and it took a whole squad effort.”

South Africa’s men produced a stunning performance to beat defending champions Argentina 35-7 in the final to get a huge monkey off their back.

The Blitzboks showed all their class to win their first-ever Hong Kong title in the first leg of this year’s three-tournament World Championship series, with Valladolid next up on May 29-31 before Bordeaux in early June.

Amid emotional celebrations, mercurial captain Impi Visser said: “I’m just so proud of the boys because we achieved something special today.

“I think we broke the hoodoo at Hong Kong Sevens and can finally call ourselves champions here.”

They scored two beautiful tries in the first half and completed their perfect performance with another three five-pointers in the second half, with Selvyn Davids bagging two. To add to the faultless performance, all five tries were converted.

Also, it was not only a first Hong Kong win ever, but also a fifth title this season and the Blitzboks’ fourth in a row, with the previous three coming in the recently completed HSBC SVNS tournaments in Perth, Vancouver and New York.

It was a true seven-man effort for 14 minutes. Tristan Leyds played like a wizard, Davids was his magical self, Shilton van Wyk and Sebatiaan Jobb ran like never before and in between, the forwards grafted like only Visser, Ryan Oosthuizen and Zain Davids can.

Leyds scored first after a kick into space and Selvyn Davids waltzed through for the second. Argentina pulled one back when Santino Zangara scored, but after the break, the excellence continued.

Quewin Nortje, Ronald Brown, Jayden Nell came on in the second half and kept up the competitive excellence, not to mention 10-year tournament veteran and leader, Siviwe Soyizwapi, who scored his first try on debut in 2016 and a decade later, helped his team to this exceptional moment.

Leyds was named Player of the Final and he fully deserved it, running 70m for the opener and delivered a perfect kick to send Van Wyk over for his second half try. Defending on the wing, he hardly missed a beat and every Los Pumas player was tackled into the Kai Tak Sports Park pitch.

A mention also to Donavan Don and David Brits, both of whom were ruled out of the final due to injuries but equally worthy of the long awaited and seemingly elusive Hong Kong gold medal.

Earlier on Sunday, the Blitzboks raced into a 26-0 lead in their semi-final against New Zealand, which they eventually won 26-14 after two late tries by the Kiwis when the deal was already done.

They played with precision and pace, but more importantly serious defence. The bigger New Zealand attackers made the mistake of looking for bodies to run into but the Blitzboks were excellent on the ground and got several turnovers and penalties.

Their first try, six minutes in, was from such a turnover, with Leyds running close to 70 meters after NZ was robbed of the ball near the Blitzbok line.

New Zealand was given a yellow card when Roderick Solo late-tackled Selvyn Davids and his team paid the price. Jobb scored just before the halftime break after the Blitzboks attacked to the left and then the right and when Davids converted from the touchline, the 14-0 scoreline was just reward.

They punished New Zealand early in the second half as well. Still a man down, the Kiwis were found wanting on the outside and Van Wyk raced in to score a converted try. At 21-0, the Blitzboks were heading to the final and a Ryan Oosthuizen try with three minutes left, confirmed that, with NZ’s two tries in the final three minutes too little, too late.

The Springbok Sevens squad that won their very first HSBC SVNS Hong Kong tournament on Sunday in such a clinical and commanding fashion deserve all the applause and credit for doing so but according to Blitzbok head coach Philip Snyman, they will not get ahead of themselves as their dream season is not over yet.

Snyman was part of a back to back world series winning team and captained them as they won all over the world except for Hong Kong, so he understands the emotions of winning at the home of sevens for the first time, thanks to a commanding victory over Argentina in the final at Kai Tak Sports Stadium.

“I’m almost speechless,” Snyman said afterwards.

“There is a massive feeling of pride and gratitude at this moment. We waited so long for this, and I am happy we finally did it. I am also very happy for us as a group, not only those here tonight but also those back home who worked just as hard to make it possible.”

Snyman said they will pause and reflect on what they managed to achieve: “We will just relax and enjoy and celebrate tonight. We know the job is not done but 50 years was a long time to wait for this.”

The Blitzbok coach also reflected on their recovery of form after they were outplayed in their second pool match on Friday and said the team had a serious chat on Friday evening after they delivered an underwhelming performances against Uruguay and Spain.

“We just reminded everyone who we are, what we represent and what we came to do,” he said. “The book on Hong Kong 2026 might not have had six perfect chapters but what a great ending to the story.”

Snyman was also very pleased with the effort shown on Sunday: “The way we came back from that stutter was exceptional, especially today when we played against two very good teams in New Zealand and Argentina. We were so clinical and effective in everything we did, it was wonderful to see first-hand.”

On their current run of form, Snyman said they are enjoying the moment: “Four tournament wins from four is amazing and we are enjoying it, knowing it will not last forever. For now though, we are enjoying it and feeling very proud of what we have achieved so far.”

Visser said the defeat against Spain on day one shocked them: “We came back from a dark place on Friday night as that defeat hurt, as suddenly doubt started to creep in, but we had a good chat and turned it around like I expected the guys to do.

“There are massive fight and pride in this team, and it showed once we were under pressure. We realised the focus should be on creating and assisting in a try rather than thinking of the celebration of it and we turned it around, that big win over Argentina Saturday laid the foundation for the rest of the tournament.

“Today was a showcase of what we are capable of. The management moulded us into a competitive team and credit for them.”

On the winning streak, Visser said: “We will keep our heads down and stay honest once we get back to work for the next two tournaments. We have seen hard work pays off, so there is no need to change that habit now.”

Scores

Final: South Africa 35 (14), Argentina 7 (7)

SA – Tries: Tristan Leyds, Selvyn Davids (2), Ryan Oosthuizen, Shilton van Wyk. Conversions: Leyds (2), Ronald Brown (3).

Argentina - Try: Santino Zangara. Conversion: Santiago Vera Feld.

Semi-final: South Africa 26 (14), New Zealand 14 (0)

SA – Tries: Tristan Leyds, Sebastiaan Jobb, Shilton van Wyk, Ryan Oosthuizen. Conversions: Leyds, Selvyn Davids, Ronald Brown.

NZ – Tries: Akuila Rokolisoa, Michael Manson. Conversions: Rokolisoa, Sam Clarke.

The Springbok Women's Sevens finished their Cathay/HSBC SVNS Hong Kong campaign on a disappointing note on Sunday after being outplayed 25-10 by Argentina, which means they finished in 12th spot overall and now has a mountain to climb in the remaining two HSBC SVNS World Championship events in Spain and France if they want to finish in the top eight and regain core status for next season.

The South Americans, who have now beaten their South African counterparts three times in a row, had too much intensity on attack and scored five tries to two, with three first half five-pointers handing them a 15-0 lead at the break.

Their ability to keep the ball in hand and attack isolated defenders worked wonders, while some defensive efforts by the Bok Women were also meek, to say the least. The three first half tries all came from constructive play.

The Bok Women worked their way back into the game though and it was clear that they needed the first points in the second half to get back into the game. This came when leading strike weapon Maria Tshiremba ran onto a kick by Eloise Webb and scored but the South Africans then messed up the restart and Argentina could score their fourth try.

Adjusting their attack to what was working, Zintle Mpupha scored next following another long kick ahead. The original bounce missed Tshiremba but Mpupha was there to follow up her own kick and she dotted down, giving the team a glimmer of hope.

That was dashed though as Argentina kept control of the ball for the last minute and on the buzzer, scored their fifth try to complete a dominating win.

The Springbok Women's Sevens enjoyed the highs of winning an important pool match but also experienced the lows of finding the intensity of top teams such as Australia and Canada too hot to handle at this weekend's Cathay/HSBC SVNS Hong Kong.

That was the frank assessment from SA coach Cecil Afrika as his team completed the first of three HSBC SVNS World Championship events in 12th place and now have a massive battle on their hands to climb their way into the top eight in the final two events in Spain and France next month.

Defeats on day one to Australia and Canada were followed by a famous win over Great Britain in their final pool match but the Bok Women faltered thereafter, losing to Great Britain in the ninth-place semi-final before going down against Argentina on Sunday.

“The win over Great Britain on Saturday was massive for us because they had core status this year and we did not,” said Afrika.

“It proved to us that we can play at that level and win, but only if we use our opportunities. When we played them again on the same day, but did not do that, we paid the price. That was a good lesson to learn, and we will be better for it.”

Coming into the tournament without a number of injured regular starters meant the Bok Women were under pressure from the start but they had their moments against Australia and Canada, who are in the top four of the rankings.

Afrika said: “We saw when we stuck to our plans, we achieved results. The team did not have that much time together due to all the injuries and short turnaround, so we can certainly be better in the departments where we did well.

“And of course, we will be better in those areas where we showed weakness. We have a lot of work to do back at home.”

An injury to Asisipho Plaatjies on day one did not help either, neither did the red card to Lerato Makua for head contact against Great Britain in their play-off match on the second day.

The intensity of the matches also caught up with his squad, Afrika said: “We are not used to that and could not respond well enough. Especially our kick-offs and kick-off receives were not up to standard and that is an area we will work one once we come back home.

“I am pleased with some of our work on attack, where we managed to create some good tries when everyone was on the same page. We could not always sustain that, which is something we will try to fine tune as we prepare for the tournaments in Spain and France next month.”

Score

South Africa 10 (0) – Tries: Maria Tshiremba, Zintle Mpupha.

Argentina 25 (15) – Tries: Marianela Escalante, Sofia Gonzalez, Maria Brigido Chamorro, Talia Rodich, Azul Medina.