International Sevens
| Date | Team A | Result | Team B |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Dec 2024 | SA | 17-24 | NZ |
| 30 Nov 2024 | France | 19-24 | SA |
| 30 Nov 2024 | SA | 17-22 | Kenya |
| 30 Nov 2024 | SA | 17-0 | Australia |
| 2 Jun 2024 | Ireland | 12-7 | SA |
| 2 Jun 2024 | Australia | 21-24 | SA |
| 1 Jun 2024 | Fiji | 26-7 | SA |
| 1 Jun 2024 | NZ | 33-24 | SA |
| 31 May 2024 | Ireland | 26-21 | SA |
| 5 May 2024 | Argentina | 14-10 | SA |
| 4 May 2024 | SA | 24-29 | Australia |
| 4 May 2024 | France | 19-20 | SA |
| 3 May 2024 | SA | 15-10 | Samoa |
| 3 May 2024 | SA | 31-7 | Spain |
| 7 April 2024 | Fiji | 33-14 | SA |
| 6 April 2024 | SA | 0-15 | Austra;ia |
| 6 April 2024 | Samoa | 7-26 | SA |
| 5 April 2024 | Spain | 10-24 | SA |
| 5 April 2024 | Ireland | 17-22 | SA |
| 3 March 2024 | SA | 28-15 | Canada |
| 3 March 2024 | SA | 10-19 | Samoa |
| 3 March 2024 | SA | 22-19 | Spain |
| 2 March 2024 | Argentina | 17-5 | SA |
| 2 March 2024 | Ireland | 17-0 | SA |
| 25 February 2024 | SA | 24-7 | Australia |
| 25 February 2024 | SA | 20-14 | Canada |
| 24 February 2024 | Ireland | 22-10 | SA |
| 24 February 2024 | SA | 12-17 | Great Britain |
| 23 February 2024 | SA | 21-12 | NZ |
| 28 January 2024 | France | 5-24 | SA |
| 27 January 2024 | Fiji | 14-12 | SA |
| 27 January 2024 | Argentina | 19-5 | SA |
| 26 January 2024 | SA | 21-14 | Spain |
| 26 January 2024 | SA | 24-7 | Canada |
Series tournament wins
South Africa won the following tournaments on the Sevens World Series since its inception in 1999–2000:
40 Tournament wins (up to 06/12/2022)
Current squad
The following players have been selected to represent South Africa during the 2023–24 SVNS tournament beginning in December 2023.
Note: Caps reflect the total number of SVNS events competed in as of the 2023 South Africa Sevens.
| Player | Position | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Club/province |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zain Davids | Forward | 4 May 1997 (age 27) | 42 | Unattached |
| Christie Grobbelaar | Forward | 25 May 2000 (age 24) | 18 | Unattached |
| Katlego Letebele | Forward | 18 November 2003 (age 21) | 2 | Unattached |
| Masande Mtshali | Forward | 10 July 2003 (age 21) | 7 | Unattached |
| Ryan Oosthuizen | Forward | 22 May 1995 (age 29) | 45 | Unattached |
| Impi Visser | Forward | 30 May 1995 (age 29) | 34 | Unattached |
| Ronald Brown | Back | 2 September 1995 (age 29) | 15 | Unattached |
| Selvyn Davids (c) | Back | 26 March 1994 (age 30) | 31 | Unattached |
| Justin Geduld | Back | 1 October 1993 (age 31) | 56 | Unattached |
| Dewald Human | Back | 19 May 1995 (age 29) | 24 | Unattached |
| Quewin Nortje | Back | 14 January 2003 (age 21) | 2 | Blue Bulls |
| Rosko Specman | Back | 28 April 1989 (age 35) | 32 | Griquas |
| Shilton van Wyk | Back | 22 December 1999 (age 24) | 15 | Unattached |
| David Brits | Back | 27 April 1997 (age 27) | 3 | |
| Donovan Don | Back | 18 February 2002 (age 22) | 3 | |
| Ricardo Duarttee | Back | 15 March 1998 (age 26) | 12 | |
| Shaun Williams | Back | 13 Apr 1998 (age 26) | 17 | |
| Siviwe Soyizwapi | Back | 7 Dec 1992 (age 31) | 53 | |
| Tristan Leyds | Back | 24 May 1997 ( age 27) | 5 |
History of Sevens
The first international rugby sevens tournament was held in 1973 in Scotland, which was celebrating a century of the Scottish Rugby Union. Seven international teams took part, with England defeating Ireland 22–18 in the final to take the trophy. The Hong Kong Sevens annual tournament began in 1976. Over the next two decades the number of international sevens competitions increased. The most notable was the Rugby World Cup Sevens with Scotland hosting the inaugural event in 1993, along with rugby joining the Commonwealth Games program in 1998.
World Series early years
The first season of the World Sevens Series was the 1999–2000 season. At the Series launch, the chairman of the International Rugby Board, Vernon Pugh, described the IRB’s vision of the role of this new competition: “this competition has set in place another important element in the IRB’s drive to establish rugby as a truly global sport, one with widespread visibility and steadily improving standards of athletic excellence”. New Zealand and Fiji dominated the first series, meeting in the final in eight of the ten season tournaments, and New Zealand narrowly won, overtaking Fiji by winning the last tournament of the series..
New Zealand won the first six seasons in a row from 1999–2000 to 2004–05, led by players such as Karl Te Nana and Amasio Valence. The number of stops in the series varied over the seasons, but experienced a contraction from 11 tournaments in 2001–02 to 7 tournaments in 2002–03 due to the global recession. In the 2005–06 season Fiji clinched the season trophy on the last tournament of the season finishing ahead of England. New Zealand regained the trophy in 2006–07 season in the last tournament of the season.
South Africa was the next team to win the series after taking home the 2008–09 title. In the 2009–10 season, Samoa who finished seventh the previous year shocked the world – led by 2010 top try-scorer and World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year Mikaele Pesamino – by winning four of the last five tournaments to overtake New Zealand and win the series.
Olympic era and professionalism
The number of core teams expanded from 12 to 15 for the 2011–12 series. Qualification for these places was played out at the 2012 Hong Kong Sevens. Canada (returning to core status for the first time since 2008), Spain and Portugal joined the 12 core teams for the next season. The Japan event also made a return for the first time since 2001 (lasting until 2015). New Zealand continued their dominance by finishing on top.
Argentina was originally planned to begin hosting a tenth event with Mar Del Plata the venue in the 2012–13 season, giving the tour an event on each continent, but when Argentina joined the Rugby Championship those plans were shelved. With the same schedule, New Zealand again were the winners over South Africa. They took it again in 2013–14 with Spain the first team to be relegated after finishing last during that season with Japan replacing them.[citation needed]
Heading into the 2014–15 season, the top four teams qualifying to the 2016 Summer Olympics, with Fiji, South Africa, New Zealand and Great Britain all qualifying through. The 2014–15 season and 2015–16 season were won by Fiji – the first time a team other than New Zealand won back-to-back season titles – led by 2015 and 2016 season Dream Team nominee Osea Kolinisau The two seasons also yielded teams winning their first tournaments – the United States won the 2015 London Sevens to finish the season in sixth overall. Kenya won the 2016 Singapore Sevens, and Scotland won the 2016 London Sevens. Prior to the 2015–16 season World Rugby did a comprehensive review of all nine tournament hosts and adjusted the schedule, dropping two sites (Japan and Scotland), and adding three sites (France, Singapore and Canada) to the calendar.[citation needed]
In the 2016–17 series, a dominant and consistent display by South Africa saw them reach the finals of the 2016–17 series rounds on eight occasions, winning five of these. As a result, South Africa were series champions with victory in the penultimate round in Paris. The season was a qualifier for the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens with the top four teams that had not already qualified, coming from this season.
The teams that made it through to the World Cup via this method were Canada, Argentina, Scotland and Samoa.
