For the Blitzboks, the first part of the job is done – 2025/2026 World Series winners. That’s thanks to their victory at the New York leg of the HSBC World SVNS this weekend, which was South Africa’s fourth tournament win out of six events this season.
While it’s a significant achievement for Philip Snyman’s men, the job is only half done.
The current format is not straightforward. Before 2024, the SVNS series used to be a simple system of anywhere between eight and 11 tournaments, crowning an overall winner at the end from log points accumulated at every event.
After winning in Cape Town, Perth, Vancouver and now New York, the Blitzboks are undoubtedly the best and most consistent team on the circuit. But they are not world champions – yet.
They will still have to win the world title in the final phase of the season over three tournaments in Hong Kong (where the Blitzboks have never won), Valladolid and Bordeaux.
Convoluted system
Last season SA finished fourth in this phase but won the one-off “World Championship” tournament in Los Angeles to be crowned world champions for a fifth time.
It was a fantastic achievement in isolation, but felt a little hollow as Argentina had been the consistent pacesetters in 2025, finishing the first phase of six tournaments as SVNS series winners with 104 log points.
In 2026 the Blitzboks amassed 106 points to Fiji’s 104 to emerge as the better team in a hard-fought first six legs.
While the Blitzboks won four tournaments, Fiji did not finish lower than third at any of the stops this season, but only won in Singapore.
In 2026 the series now moves to a three-tournament SVNS World Championship series, where accumulated performances over those three events will crown the champion.
The SVNS World Series has been restructured three times in the past five years, as previously reported by Daily Maverick.
The restructuring has left a “bad taste” in the mouths of players and fans. The original 10-tournament structure in 10 major cities has been tweaked, creating a “convoluted and confusing” spectacle.
The Sevens circuit has expanded from 10 tournaments to 13, with three divisions that culminate into the three-event World Championship. The top eight teams for both men and women automatically go through to the World Championship.
Division 3 is a standalone, regional tournament. The top two teams from each gender progress to Division 2 where a total of six teams will battle it out for the last four spots of the season finale.
World Rugby claims the new tournament format is a way to increase competitiveness while cutting down on costs to ensure the financial sustainability of Sevens.
As a result, some Sevens teams are struggling to keep pace with the changes. In May 2025, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) cut their men’s Sevens programme, citing financial constraints. In their 2023/24 financial year, the union suffered a loss of €18-million, roughly R350-million.
“The financial situation we face is challenging, and it’s crucial that we take decisive action to secure the long-term success of Irish Rugby,” said IRFU High Performance Director, David Humphreys, in a statement at the time.
Later that month Great Britain (GB) announced that its men’s and women’s Sevens programme would be cut.
Essentially, the players would no longer enjoy the support of full-time contracts and would instead come together just before the SVNS Series to train and play.
Play on
For the players though, all they can do is play on while the future of the SVNS series plays out in boardrooms.
After winning in New York, the Blitzboks return to SA knowing that three more tournaments await in the form of the World Championship stops in Hong Kong, Valladolid and Bordeaux.
“The season is not over, but we can allow ourselves to enjoy this one, and when we come back we start fresh with the World Championships our focus,” said Blitzbok star Selvyn Davids.
Coach Snyman was naturally proud of his team for the effort they put in and for their commitment, especially on defence against Fiji in the final.
“The defensive effort was something else from minute one until the last play. In the final sequence of play, Fiji created an overlap here and there, but the guys never gave up, and they could not get through,” Snyman said.
“How some of those players got into some defensive positions to cover, I don’t know. But what I do know is that drive from within to get there. That is what we are about.”
Snyman also praised the players for buying into his vision for the squad, which included bringing in new players to build depth: “The senior players bought in and started to contribute, and every new player coming in had the backing of support of the senior guys as well, and that made it possible to continue with that plan.
“We are not done yet. We need to keep growing and improving. We will have a rest now but will come back as determined for the three tournaments of the World Championship.” DM