Blitzboks and NZ Women Triumphant At Cape Town SVNS 2024

The Blitzboks from South Africa and the Black Ferns Sevens from New Zealand were victors at the Cape Town SVNS 2024, as surprise results were the feature of the second day at the DHL Stadium in which a rapturous crowd treated to some thrilling Sevens Rugby.

After the South African men lost for the first time in a long time in Dubai, they turned the corner on winning on home soil by winning for the first time since 2015 in beating a good French side 26-14. The Fiji Men followed up the win in Dubai by beating the Spanish again and claimed bronze with a convincing 47-10 win. Shilton Van Wyk was the SA player of the final.

Springbok Sevens coach Philip Snyman was playing when SA won it in Cape Town last time and said after the win “It’s ’s really great to see the players enjoy this win. They are the real heroes of this weekend and they played for every member of our squad who could not be on the field tonight.”

Impi Visser, the team’s co-captain, said: “We knew that we have a special group of players, but we came up a bit short last week in Dubai. Some new guys came in and really stepped up this week. We’re building something really special and once we have that self-belief we can really go to that number one spot.”

Snyman added, “This goes to every South African who kept on supporting us – we have the best supporters in the world and hopefully this will be the start of big things for the Blitzboks.”

On the Women’s side of the draw, the USA upset Australia in the semifinal 24-19 before falling to the team in black 12-26, and France had already beaten Australia to third place. Jorja Miller was the player of the final for New Zealand.

New Zealand women’s captain Sarah Hirini said “I’m so happy! We were pretty disappointed with last weekend but I’m absolutely stoked here. We’re going home with goodies for Christmas! I’m very proud of our group, with three debutants in there.

We love Cape Town, we love South Africa and they always turn out for us.”

Photo Credit- World Rugby – Blitzboks Win At Cape Town SVNS 2024

With so many new players on the circuit, the results have been far from predictable on the SVNS Series and the energy from the players has been infectious. The crowd in Cape Town too made the weekend a memorable one as they rose to the occasion of bringing the “gees” (Afrikaans for energy/spirit) for a cracking day of rugby under perfect conditions. Even Springboks captain Siya Kolisi was in attendance.

Photo Credit – World Rugby – Monique Coffee

Canadian Series debutante Monique Coffee, who scored her first try in Cape Town, told us: “It’s been awesome having a younger crowd and lots of women who have come in and tried to show their best and what they have and embrace the style of rugby that our new Head Coach (Jocelyn Barrieau) is implementing in the team.

So it is also great to have players who are keen on this style and show their skills and work together. We have a lot of new players on the team but we are really prepared to work with each other and for each other to show what we can contribute to the team.”

A special mention to HKCR Referee Sunny Lee who was selected to officiate the Women’s Cup final in Cape Town between USA and New Zealand.

Photo Credit- World Rugby – Sunny Lee Refereed the Cape Town SVNs 2024 Women’s Cup final

All of the results can be seen here from the Cape Town SVNS 2024.

Japan Claim 6th At Cape Town SVNS 2024, China Finish 9th

The Japanese Sakura 7s have arguably exceeded expectations, certainly ours, but the results have been warranted across the opening two legs of the new SVNS season, backing up their 7th place finish in Dubai with a 6th finish in Cape Town, once again playing Canada in their final placement match.

Japan beat Ireland 26-22 in what was an exciting match at the DHL Stadium, again basking in glorious African sunshine and Mayu Yoshino, Hanako Utsumi and captain Mei Ohtani with a brace did enough to hold off a resurgent Irish team in the 5th place Semifinal.

However, the Canadians proved to be too strong and were 22-7 winners in the 5th place playoff, after the Sakura had beaten them twice last weekend in Dubai. Mayu Yoshino was the sole try scorer for Japan, but they will be more than satisfied with the results after two rounds.

• Japan 26-22 Ireland 5th place SF
• Japan 7-22 Canada 5th Place Playoff

Photo Credit- World Rugby – Japan Claim 6th At Cape Town SVNS 2024

For China, the decisions to select the squad they have, which we believe is due to interference at home not allowing for all of the best players to represent them on the Series had backfired. They improved upon their 10th-place finish in Dubai and beat Fiji for the third time across both weekends to claim 9th in South Africa.

China started Sunday with a good 19-7 win over the Spanish (Zhou Yan, Gao Xiaoyang, and Yan Meiling) all scoring. The side lacks the precision they have shown over the past year, and crucially miss the speed to penetrate the defence of the better sides on the Series.

The first Chinese try against the Fijiana was an excellent show and go from Dou Xinrong to split the defence and they quickly added a second by Gao Xiaoyang to extend the lead 14-0. Fiji struck back before the half but the second half was notable for the tired bodies and tired tackles. The final moments were scrappy but China held on for the win 14-12.

• China 19-7 Spain 9th place SF
• China 14-12 Fiji 9th Place Playoff

Photo Credit – China Finish 9th at Cape Town SVNS 2024

Rugby SVNS News

• Cape Town SVNS 2024 Day 1 Recap.
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