South Africa’s Sevens men and their Fijian counterparts have it all to play for on day two of the HSBC SVNS New York on Sunday, with he team finishing top to be crowned the 2025/26 Series winner.
South Africa finished second in Pool A on Saturday, with victories over New Zealand 22-7 and France 12-5 before going down 19-12 to Australia.
Fiji, tied with the South Africans at the top of the log, lost their opener against Argentina (31-12) before wins over Great Britain 24-19 and Spain 43-12 to finish second in their pool.
South Africa play Argentina at 6.50pm (SA time) in the second semi-final, with Fiji and Australia in the first one.
Against New Zealand, South Africa were in control of possession and held sway at the breakdown, which helped them dictate the match.
They kept out the Kiwis, who could not quite find a way around the SA defence for most of the match and counter punched when the opportunity arose.
Selvyn Davids scored the opening try and Sebastiaan Jobb did a double on each side of the break, but the most popular five-pointer belonged to Grant de Jager, who dotted down for his first HSBC SVNS try in the second half. New Zealand scored late, but that had no impact on the results.
The match against France was tight and the margins even tighter. France scored first, but Tristan Leyds dotted down after some silky skills, with Ronald Brown scoring and converting for the match winner in the second half.
Unfortunately, Leyds and Dewald Human suffered injuries which prevented them from taking the field against Australia in the final pool match and that impacted the rhythym of the attack.
Davids scored his 100th try in the series to put South Africa up, but two tries by the Aussies had them in the lead at the break.
Davids then made it 101 in his HSBC SVNS career, but a late try by Australia secured the win.
Results
South Africa 22 (12), New Zealand 7 (0)
South Africa 12 (5), France 5 (5)
South Africa 12 (7), Australia 19 (12)