HSBC SVNS Cape Town preview
FESTIVE: The stage is set for HSBC SVNS Cape Town on December 9-10 at DHL Stadium as the world’s best 12 men’s and women’s sevens teams are ready to showcase their incredible talents on the pitch.
The HSBC SVNS CPT action kicks off at 09.00 South African time (GMT+2) with the pool matches on Saturday. Day two begins at 09.00 on Sunday with the quarterfinals and culminates with the women’s gold medal final at 18.43, followed by the men’s final at 19.23 local time.
With the number of teams reduced from 16 to 12 in the men’s event this year, the competition will be intense from start to finish.
*Tickets are available from R150 at Ticketmaster.
South Africa’s hugely popular BlitzBoks will play Ireland, USA and Great Britain in men’s Pool A. Last season’s runners-up Argentina face double Olympic champions Fiji alongside France and Spain in Pool B. Pool C sees reigning SVNS champions New Zealand take on Samoa, Australia, and Canada.
The BlitzBoks head into this weekend’s challenge at the back of claiming their fifth Dubai SVNZ title.
#PICTURE: @SVNSSeries takes over the Mother City! #rugby #sports #news #HSBCSVNSCPT https://t.co/tQKChKaZEG
— rugby365.com (@rugby365com) December 8, 2023
However, in Cape Town, it’s usually a different story for the South Africans.
Speaking to reporters, sevens legend and local man Justin Geduld said the challenge now, to be successful in Cape Town for the first time since 2015, will be to keep the focus on the field.
“We love playing in front of our fans, family and friends and this tournament is our only opportunity in a season to do so,” the 30-year-old Geduld said.
“But there are distractions, on the flip side and we need to overcome those this week.”
Fellow Capetonian, Zain Davids, will only play in his fourth Cape Town tournament in his 42nd HSBC SVNS tournament and said they are determined to bring that winning feeling back to DHL Stadium.
“Last week away in Dubai we could find each other again as a group,” said Davids.
“A lot of things came together for us there, we bonded and realised that our management prepared us well enough to win, it was now just us who needed to go out and prove it to ourselves.”
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Davids feels that the squad have the confidence and self-belief to do well in Cape Town this weekend and added that the home crowd will add extra energy.
“We have this one opportunity and if we played for our management in particular last weekend, this time we are adding our families to the motivation,” he said.
“And of course, we owe the supporters of the team and the tournament a performance that they can be proud of. Playing in Cape Town is a privilege, not pressure and we should see it as such.”
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In the women’s competition, Australia will start Pool A in full confidence following their victory in Dubai last weekend and they will come up against Fiji, Japan and Spain. Pool B sees the current SVNS title holders as New Zealand, Ireland, Brazil, and Great Britain.
France were impressive bronze medallists in Dubai and they will take on Canada, USA and the hosts South Africa who were promoted from the Challenger last season and will be looking to make their mark on home turf.
South Africa women’s co-captain Mathrin Simmers said: “It feels different for several reasons. We are at home of course and that always creates a special buzz. The fact that I missed last year’s tournament through injury adds to my excitement to play.
“The real anticipation for us, going into the second tournament as the newcomers onto the series, is to see if we can back up on what we did in Dubai last week.
“The squad felt good about the fact that we landed on our feet in the series, took some great teams to the wire and got our first win for the season. How excited we now get another opportunity to do it all over again.”
*For the full schedule CLICK HERE!!
Compiled by Leezil Hendricks
*Additional source: SA Rugby & World Rugby
