HSBC SVNS action set to heat up in Perth

The HSBC SVNS spotlight turns to Perth this week as the world’s best sevens sides arrive in Western Australia. Australia’s women return to familiar turf, looking to defend their Perth crown and contend for the top spot on the SVNS league standings.

Team captains came together at Scarborough Beach today to launch HSBC SVNS Perth, soaking up the sunshine and the energy ahead of what promises to be a thrilling weekend of rugby sevens.

After three rounds of the HSBC SVNS Series, the race for the top spots is heating up. In the women’s competition, New Zealand currently leads with 58 points with just a two-point advantage but Australia will be looking to defend their Perth crown by clinching a win on home soil and putting on a show for the local fans.

Following their victory against France in Singapore’s final showdown last week, the Flying Fijians are aiming to continue their winning streak and maintain their position atop the men’s league standings just ahead of New Zealand.

Madison Ashby, captain of the Australian women’s team, said: "We love playing in Perth and the girls did a great job last year winning the title. Now we’re looking to go back-to-back. You can’t beat a home crowd, and we’re fortunate to be one of only a couple of nations to play on home soil each year."

Henry Hutchison, captain of the Australian men’s team, added: "It’s nice to be back in Perth on home soil. We’re ready to put in a good performance in front of our local fans and family who are travelling from all parts of the country. We were pleased with how we played on the second day in Singapore and want to carry that momentum into this weekend."

The HSBC SVNS Series continues to redefine the rugby sevens experience, combining elite, fast-paced sport with a festival atmosphere featuring music, food, and culture. Perth’s HBF Park will once again host live entertainment, international DJs, food and beverage activations, and the Beach Club, delivering an unforgettable experience for fans from around the world.

According to Siviwe Soyizwapi, who leads the Blitzboks into battle at HBF Park in the fourth tournament of the 2026 series, they are eager to redeem themselves after some uncharacteristic errors tripped them up last weekend in Singapore.

That was quite a let-down for the team who conquered all in Cape Town in December and they had to take a hard inward look at themselves, the captain admitted before posing with his opposing counterparts at the traditional captains photo, this time at the scenic Scarborough beach in Perth.

“It was a tough weekend in Singapore, so coming here and out to the local beach for the captains’ photo does perk you up, especially on a beautiful day such as today,” Soyizwapi said before turning his attention to the weekend’s action again.

“We know how much potential we have as a group, so making silly errors is frustrating. We don’t mind the odd bad call that comes our way, that will happen but dropping a ball or making a bad pass or missing a tackle, those things are on us and no one else can be blamed for that.”

What will make the weekend’s action more compelling to watch for the pundits will be the change in tactics from the various teams as many faced off last weekend as well.

The Blitzboks will again face Spain and Fiji, with Argentina their only “new” opponent in Pool A. Where they outplayed the Spanish for a 21-14 win, they lost to Fiji in extra-time after scores were even (19-19) at the end of normal time and for Soyizwapi, it will be a matter of expecting the expected but to execute better.

“The teams know each other by now and tactically each one will be well aware of what the others bring to the game,” he said. “We still have some things up our sleeve, but so will the other teams, so we need to be strategic and better in our execution in order to be successful.”

Some good attention to detail went into their training session and Soyizwapi is confident that they will come out on top.

They will have time to clear the heads on Thursday, when the players have the day to themselves: “We will have a day off tomorrow and that down time will come in handy as we could go sightseeing a bit, but the mindset is pretty much on fixing what went wrong last time around. We messed up, so we need to fix that ourselves.”

Soyizwapi will play in his 62nd world series tournament and will equal the tally of Blitzbok head coach, Philip Snyman. Branco du Preez remains the most experienced Springbok Sevens player ever, with 85 tournament appearances.

Selected Blitzboks stats

Most tournament caps

85 Branco du Preez

74 Chris Dry

69 Kyle Brown

68 Frankie Horne

66 Cecil Afrika

Most appearances in Australia

10 Chris Dry

8 Cecil Afrika

8 Kyle Brown

8 Frankie Horne

7 Branco du Preez

Blitzboks’ Pool A fixtures

Saturday (SA times – all matches live on SuperSport)

5.58am: Spain

9.14am: Argentina

12.52pm: Fiji

2026 HSBC SVNS schedule

29-30 November: Dubai - NZL/NZL

6-7 December: Cape Town - SA/AUS

31 January-1 February: Singapore - FIJI/NZL

7-8 February: Perth

7-8 March: Vancouver

14-15 March: New York

17-19 April: Hong Kong (World Championship Series, Round 1)

29-31 May: Valladolid (World Championship Series, Round 2)

5-7 June: Bordeaux (World Championship Series, Round 3)