The SVNS captains (Photo World Rugby)
The new-look HSBC SVNS Series arrives in Singapore this weekend for the third round of the season, with all 16 teams across the men’s and women’s competitions vying for crucial league points ahead of the three-tournament Championship later this year.
Last year’s Singapore SVNS men’s winners Fiji and women’s champion New Zealand will be defending their titles and aiming to continue their strong performances this season.
After two rounds of HSBC SVNS Series, it is a three-way tie at the top of the men’s leaderboard, with Cape Town winners South Africa, Fiji, and Dubai champions New Zealand all locked on 32 points, while Olympic gold-medallists France, Australia, and Argentina are chasing hard.
Returning South Africa captain Siviwe Soyizwapi – who could break USA legend Perry Baker’s try-scoring record of 29 touchdowns at the National Stadium on his ninth visit to Singapore – warned that his side weren’t sitting on their laurels after becoming the first team to claim back-to-back Cape Town titles in front of their home fans in December.
“Cape Town Sevens went well for us, but it’s a new tournament in Singapore, so we can’t still think of that old victory,” Soyizwapi, who is back in the Blitzbok squad for the first time since the HSBC SVNS World Championship in Los Angeles last May, said. “We have had to start all over again. And we had to work harder to be able to come into this weekend and give an even better performance.
“I’m feeling very excited going into this weekend,” he added. “It’s another opportunity for us to keep growing as a team. We want to build consistency. We want to get the new players coming into the squad to experience a bit of sevens.
“The camp that we had as a group, training together and trying to build that consistency and that synergy has been very exciting, which makes me excited for the weekend coming up.”
In the women’s competition, New Zealand and Australia traded first and second places in Dubai and Cape Town, and currently sit top of the table with 38 points each, ahead of a chasing pack featuring Japan, USA, France, Fiji, and Olympic silver medallists Canada.
After losing their long-held desert crown in the opening stop of this year’s HSBC SVNS Series, Australia got their own back a week later in South Africa in early December.
Speaking at the captain’s photocall, Australia’s skipper Isabella Nasser said the players were excited to return to competition after the post-Cape Town Christmas and New Year break.
“We’ve prepared really well,” she said. “Off the back of Cape Town when we got the win, we had a really good Christmas preparation and then into a couple of weeks post-Christmas. And we’re really excited to kick off in Singapore – we love Singapore, it’s one of our favourite tournaments, so we’re really pumped. We’re getting used to the heat and the humidity!”
