Blitzboks claim Vancouver title, setting up thrilling finale

South Africa’s men claimed a third HSBC SVNS title of the 2026 season by outplaying Spain 38-12 in Vancouver, a win that closed the series lead held by Fiji to one point.

South Africa and Fiji are both on 86 log points with one tournament left in the regular season, to be played in New York next weekend.

Philip Snyman’s men’s side qualified for the final by beating Australia 19-12 in their semi-final, while Spain’s 24-17 win over Fiji in the other top-four match saw them progress to the final.

However, they ran into a blitzkrieg as the South Africans jumped into a 17-0 lead against Spain.

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“We really improved game by game and in the final, the guys were very clinical and delivered one of the best performances I have seen by the Springbok Sevens in a long time,” Snyman said.

“Our search for consistency is very important in our vision to become the best sevens system in the world and that starts at home. We aim to bring consistency into our training sessions as well, because that will flow over to tournaments and I am happy to see that happened here in Vancouver.

“We are not perfect yet, but that is okay. I told the players they should not be scared to make mistakes, as long as it is aggressive mistakes and this weekend, I cannot fault the effort or performance the players put on the field.”