HSBC SVNS Round Two Returns to Cape Town: A Showcase of Global Rugby Sevens Excellence
By Phoebe Awiti
The second round of HSBC SVNS takes place on 7-8 December as world class rugby sevens returns to Cape Town. The HSBC SVNS action kicks off at 09:00 local time (GMT+2) on both Saturday and Sunday at DHL stadium, with pool matches throughout day one. The cup semi-finals begin at 13:12 on Sunday, and the event climaxes with the women’s gold medal final at 18:35, followed by the men’s final at 19:11 local time.
World Rugby’s revamped and rebranded rugby sevens, HSBC SVNS 2025 will see the world’s best 12 men’s and women’s rugby sevens teams compete in seven events across seven months in seven iconic global destinations.
“World Rugby is looking forward to working with the tournament hosts to deliver another high-quality Challenger series and we are very grateful to HSBC for their continued excellent support and partnership which is helping to grow this exciting and youthful Olympic sport further around the world,” said Nigel Cass, World Rugby Chief Competitions and Performance Officer in a pre-match press conference.
HSBC SVNS Cape Town pools:
The pools for Cape Town were allocated based on rankings at the end of the Dubai tournament.
Dubai champions Fiji (men) and Australia (women) are in Pool A, after claiming gold last weekend, with the respective runners up, Spain and New Zealand, heading Pool B. “We are super confident coming into Cape Town off the back of victory in Dubai where we performed really well but we also have lots of work-ons too so we’re really excited to keep the momentum going into Cape Town and hopefully perform again. We love soaking in the energy in Cape Town and putting it back out on the field, so we try to give back to the crowd just as they give to us. For many of our girls it’s one of their favourite tournaments on the tour.” Australia women’s captain Isabella Nasser said in a pre-match press conference.
Alongside Fiji in Men’s pool A are Great Britain and Uruguay. Spain is in pool B together with Australia and recently promoted Kenya. South African fans will have opportunity to see the Blitzboks on home turf as they face Argentina and Ireland in men’s pool C, while pool D sees New Zealand matched with Olympic champions France and the USA.
Women’s pool A sees Australia against Olympic silver medallists Canada and Brazil. Olympic champions New Zealand is in pool B with Japan and China. Pool C pitches Europeans France, Ireland and Spain against one another. Finally in pool D Great Britain take on the USA and Fiji.
Women:
Pool A: Australia, Canada, Brazil
Pool B: New Zealand, Japan, China
Pool C: France, Ireland, Spain
Pool D: Great Britain, USA, Fiji
Men:
Pool A: Fiji, Great Britain, Uruguay
Pool B: Spain, Australia, Kenya
Pool C: Argentina, South Africa, Ireland
Pool D: New Zealand, France, USA
HSBC SVNS Cape Town sees a change to the format used in Dubai and last season. four pool winners will proceed directly to the semi-finals, while teams finishing second in their pool will compete in the fifth to eighth place play offs and the third placed teams in their pools play off for ninth to twelfth positions.
In a major improvement in World Rugby, all HSBC SVNS events will see men’s and women’s teams receiving equal participation fees and sharing the platform equally on the biggest stages around the world. In the same breath and for the first time in history, there is an all-female panel of match officials for the women’s SVNS 2025 Rugby.