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New format shakes up SVNS Series as pools confirmed for Cape Town
By Finn Morton
Following the success of the Dubai Sevens, the HSBC SVNS Series heads to South Africa where Cape Town’s DHL Stadium will host a new-look competition format. The 12 teams will be split across four pools instead of three, with group winners chasing direct semi-final qualification.
All 24 teams across the women’s and men’s competitions have been drawn into their pools for the second SVNS Series stop of the season from December 7 to 8. The Aussie women will come up against an Olympic rival in Pool A, while there are pools of death in the men’s draw.
After triumphing at the Dubai Sevens for the fifth tournament on the bounce, Australia will look to keep the good times going in the Western Cape. The defending SVNS Cape Town winners have been drawn in Pool A with Olympic silver medallists Canada and Brazil.
The Black Ferns Sevens will take on Japan and China in Pool B, while France will test themselves against an ever-dangerous Irish side and Spain. Great Britain, the USA and Fiji make up the fourth and final pool on the women’s side of the draw.
Rankings from the Dubai Sevens determined the pool allegations for the 12 teams in each of the women’s and men’s competitions. Canada’s young side had to settle for eighth in the UAE after falling to Japan 24-22 in the seventh-place playoff, while Brazil finished 10th.
Those two sides will need to be at their absolute best if they have any chance of recording what would be a stunning upset win over Australia. The Aussies will be full of confidence and belief after beating arch-rivals New Zealand 28-24 in the Dubai Sevens Cup Final on Sunday.
“It’s pretty incredible, I’m sort of lost for words with how I feel right now. I’m on the verge of tears but also laughing and so happy, so proud of the girls and how they showed up tonight and the rest of the tournament,” captain Isabella Nasser said on the RugbyPass TV broadcast.
“We just have such a tight-knit group, The young ones really showed up today, and I’m sure they will the rest of the season. We’ve got such a young, mature group so the best is yet to come so I’m super excited.
“The Black Ferns are always such a hard team to verse; they always show up and it’s always such a good rivalry. They’re such good sport and they’re my favourite team to verse both on and off the field.
“I’m really, really proud of my girls and also such a great game with the Black Ferns.”
The Black Ferns Sevens finished second, France third and Great Britain fourth which is why they’ve been spaced out across the four pools. As the SVNS Series revealed in a press release, the pool winners will advance ‘directly to the semi-finals” which could be crucial.
In the men’s side of the SVNS Series, Dubai champions Fiji will take on a dangerous Great Britain outfit and Uruguay in Pool A. The Fijians brought an end to their long-lasting Cup Final title drought with a 19-5 win over giant-slayers Spain in Sunday’s decider.
The Spaniards showed tremendous skill and flair during the two-day event at Dubai’s The Sevens Stadium as they beat the All Blacks Sevens twice in two days. Captain Pol Pla scored the opener in the Cup Final but it wasn’t to be in the end for Espana who went down swinging.
Spain will take on Henry Hutchison’s Australia and newly promoted Kenya in Pool B. In Pool C, last season’s League winners Argentina will face tournament hosts South Africa and an Irish outfit desperate to bounce back after a disappointing event in Dubai.
While that group could be seen as the pool of death, that unwanted title could also be pinned on Pool D which includes New Zealand, France and the USA. The All Blacks Sevens showed some promise during an inconsistent weekend in the UAE.
Of course, France are the defending overall SVNS Series champions, and they were unfortunate not to progress to the semis in Dubai after falling to Fiji in a thrilling quarter-final. Then there’s the USA, who, like Ireland, will be hungry to make amends.
HSBC SVNS 2025 will see the world’s best women’s and men’s sevens players travel to seven stops around the world in a bid to be crowned world champions. Dubai, Cape Town, Perth, Vancouver, Hong Kong China and Singapore will host the regular season events.
Los Angeles’ Dignity Health Sports Park is the destination for the HSBC SVNS World Championship, which will see the top eight sides battle it out in a winner-takes-all event, and there’s the thrill of various promotion-relegation fights.
WOMEN’S POOLS FOR SVNS CAPE TOWN
POOL A: Australia, Canada and Brazil
POOL B: New Zealand, Japan and China
POOL C: France, Ireland and Spain
POOL D: Great Britain, USA and Fiji
MEN’S POOLS FOR SVNS CAPE TOWN
POOL A: Fiji, Great Britain and Uruguay
POOL B: Spain, Australia and Kenya
POOL C: Argentina, South Africa and Ireland
POOL D: New Zealand, France and USA
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Latest Comments
First, thinking automatic success comes with succession. I think a heavily hand made succession can work but they need to be a whole lot more ruthless with their processes.
Then, as pointed out in a recent article, by the same author as this one I think, they went with what Razor would these days call the "quarter back" style 10 rather than a facilitator. This, along with a second playmaker, removed all desire to select alround players who have the skill to keep the ball alive and enable those wonderful team try's we used to see. We became 'strike' team with specific focal points, and a reliance on those players.
Two defend those players, and the idea itself I suppose, the two you name in particular were heavily affected by their concussions and the idea they can break a neck playing like they way they were. Neither were anything like that specifically due to injurys imo, this, combined with the same mentality that causes the team not to want to replace a future coach (Foster) with someone better, means they stuck with their man. There is also a heavy amount of fiscal perspective in things like investment in a player that dictated a lack of desire to move sooner (the delay in selecting someone like Mo'unga and using Scott as a 6 in conjunction with Ardie at 7).
Ah, yes, I see that you see. Yeah it was definitely another one of these pretty ideas like succession of coachs wasn't, naming the new 7 as captain, after McCaw. Combined with the look of your next paragraph, I'm going to suggest that again it is one of these 'AB philosophies' that are to blame of sticking with your investments till ruin or bust. I can't remember what injury Read had but there was also a conscious choice to play him tighter and we were robbed by his wide running and passing game by a loss of pace. But both of them were indicative of a lack of investment (by necessity no doubt) in securing talent behind them Lachlan was better than Cane for multiple years before he finally decided to go, guys you knew would deliver to a certain standard like Elliot Dixon, Squire, Robinson, Tuafua, even Messam, were constantly overlooked to play certain All Blacks into the ground and have them needing to be excluded from the start of SR seasons as a result. It's so indicative of now with players like Kirifi stonewalled to give Cane a farewell but more glaring grinding blood our of Ardie for one more performance. Not to mention passing up on players like Sotutu.
I see you have great names as well, fully agree, especially about how that Foster teams run ended. While I don't think you understand the dynamics of what selecting from overseas is likely involve, I'm on board, because I don't really care too much about SR. I'd prefer it if NZR had to do what you suggest and invest in the grass roots and NPC and everyone can turn up to a NPC game without paying a cent because the people involved are there for the love of the game.
Realistically though, and thinking with that All Black mindset of perfection, nothing should change until these problems weve highlighted with the setup, and this current coaches failings, have been fixed. Make the change to opening up when you don't need to open it up, that is the 7 point play to make.
Go to commentsSpeed genes are strong in the Kolbe family his cousin Wade van Niekerk is the world 400m and Olympic record holder and has run close to 10 for the 100m.
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