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The Emirates World Rugby Match Officials have been confirmed for the 2024 Men’s Guinness Six Nations, the first international competition on the road to the men’s Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia. A total of 15 different referees representing eight nations will take charge of the 15 matches that comprise the championship, kicking off on …
The Springbok Women’s Sevens will be forced to make changes to their squad for this weekend’s HSBC SVNS Cape Town after Zintle Mpupha and Libbie Janse van Rensburg were both ruled out of action. Mpupha is following head injury assessment (HIA) protocols, which means she will only be able to return to the field next …
Scottish Rugby is teaming up with NHS Education for Scotland (NES), Brain Health Scotland, Scottish Brain Sciences and sportscotland to deliver player welfare training at Scottish Gas Murrayfield during the month of December. The training will be delivered from the NES Mobile Skills Unit (MSU), a facility developed to support the delivery of clinical skills …
Football’s loss is proving to be rugby’s gain in the case of Vodacom URC top tackler Alex Mann. He spent three years on the books of Cardiff City as a teenage centre-half before opting to focus on the oval ball rather than the round one. That’s a decision which is paying off for both him …
Springbok Sevens prop Christie Grobbelaar has been ruled out of the HSBC SVNS Cape Town at DHL Stadium this weekend after sustaining an ankle injury. Grobbelaar picked up the injury at last weekend’s Emirates Dubai Sevens, won by the Blitzboks for a fifth consecutive and 11th time overall. He underwent a scan in Cape Town …
Following the recently announced return of the Celtic Challenge, the competition has confirmed its new look line-up to feature this season, including two Scottish teams aligned to Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow Warriors. The alignment will see the two teams don the iconic colours of Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow Warriors and will be based out of …
The biggest family day out in the rugby calendar, Judgement Day, returns for 2024! Hosted at Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday 1 June 2024 with the double header event featuring the BKT United Rugby Championship Round 18 matches between Scarlets v Dragons and Cardiff v Ospreys. Tickets go on sale to the general public today …
It took him six tournaments to get there, but when Masande Mtshali finally scored his first try in a Blitzbok jersey on Saturday night in Dubai, the 20-year-old forward almost missed this very significant milestone in his short sevens career. The Blitzboks are well-known for mobbing a player when he scores his first try, but …
South Africa's Blitzboks overcame a spirited Argentina 12-7 to lift their fifth straight Emirates Dubai 7s trophy – equaling the record for successive titles at a single location. Although Argentina had to settle for silver it represented their best ever result in Dubai.
Interview of the Captain of South Africa is available for media to download and use for free, without authorization: https://apo-opa.co/49YdpRv
Watch the video B-roll: https://apo-opa.co/3GsZtBp
The women's final was another epic encounter between the top two teams in the world. In a replay of last years final, Australia overcame their arch rivals 26-19 to end New Zealand's winning run on 41 matches, which spanned since their loss in the Dubai final last year.
Teagan Levi touched down either side of halftime as Australia ended New Zealand's 41-match winning streak to claim their fourth consecutive title in Dubai, as the HSBC SVNS 2024 got off to an electric start.
Not to be overshadowed by her younger sister, Maddison Levi broke her own tournament try record, her 12th try of the weekend in the 13th minute was the decisive one.
The match kicked off at an astonishing speed – and did not let up. Bienne Tarita scored the opening try with just 23 seconds on the clock to set Australia on the road to the title in the 23rd final meeting between the two sides.
But the Black Ferns Sevens made it difficult for the champions. Jorja Miller touched down twice in the first five minutes en route to a hat-trick in a losing cause, before Maddison Levi settled the tournament in the closing minutes.
Australia's captain Charlotte Caslick had only praise for the younger Levi. “She's unbelievable. She's had an amazing pre-season so we're all just getting to see the hard work that she's done this year.”
And she explained the game plan for becoming the first team to beat New Zealand since last year's final in Dubai: “We wanted to hold the ball as much as possible because we know when they touch it they're dangerous. That was key for us – restarts and holding on to the ball.
“We love coming to Dubai, we love the fans here, playing in front of you guys. It's a great team and we're so proud of them. We worked really hard for this, so it's really special for us.”
New Zealand's passage to the final saw them beat Brazil 26-14 in the quarter-final before overcoming Canada 21-19 in a nail-biting finish the an exhilarating match.
Australia began the day with a convincing 32-5 quarter-final win over USA before running out 21-14 winners over France in a high quality semi-final.
Canada missed out on their first medal since winning silver in Sydney in 2020 as they were well beaten 26-5 by France who claimed the bronze medal and put in a strong performance throughout the weekend with the returning Anne-Cécile Ciofani contributing to building excitement ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris next July.
The men's final was a tense affair as South Africa narrowly overcame Argentina 12-7. Impi Visser had already crossed for the Blitzboks when Shilton van Wyk, player of the final in 2022, went over in the fifth minute to take the score to 12-0.
Argentina's Matias Osadczuk cut the deficit to five points early in the second half, after Ryan Oosthuizen was yellow carded for a dangerous tackle.
Rosko Specman came within inches of a spectacular score, but lost the ball – and ploughed into a steward – in the corner, as South Africa held off the Argentinian fightback.
With the series heading to South Africa next week, their run to the title in Dubai could not have come at a better time. Fans will be hoping they can go back to back in Cape Town next weekend.
South Africa's acting head coach Philip Snyman hailed his squad's, "amazing performances throughout the weekend".
“We said we wanted to leave everything on the field,” he said. “It doesn't matter what happens with the result – we want to look each other in the eye and have smiles on our faces. Even with the yellow card tonight, they really played each other, they played for their jersey and they restored the pride in the Springbok Sevens jersey.”
South Africa started the day strongly with a 24-7 quarter-final defeat of Australia, before overcoming Fiji 14-7 in an intense semi-final.
Argentina overcame Samoa 21-14 in the quarter-final before narrowly beating New Zealand's All Blacks Sevens 21-19 in a pulsating semi-final.
New Zealand recovered from the disappointment of their semi-final defeat to take home the bronze medals with a 17-12 victory over Fiji.
The pool draw for the next round of HSBC SVNS in Cape Town on 9-10 December took place on the pitch in Dubai following the end of play and produced some exciting match-ups as fans can now look ahead and get excited to welcoming world class rugby sevens back to the Mother City.
Women's Pool A: Australia, Fiji, Japan, Spain. Pool B: New Zealand, Ireland, Brazil, Great Britain. Pool C: France, Canada, USA, South Africa.
Men's Pool A: South Africa, Ireland, USA, Great Britain. Pool B: Argentina, Fiji, France, Spain. Pool C: New Zealand, Samoa, Australia, Canada.
Fans are encouraged not to miss the two-day extravaganza with incredible food, fitness, non-stop music including live music acts from DJ Zinhle, Jack Parow, Sun El-Musician and more, alongside the world class rugby sevens action. Tickets are available from only R150 at Ticketmaster.co.za.
The HSBC SVNS 2024 is set to supercharge the sport's global appeal and is taking place across eight iconic destinations. The new look HSBC SVNS 2024 features seven regular season events – in Dubai, Cape Town, Perth, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Singapore - before the Grand Final in Madrid.
The top eight placed teams based on cumulative series points after seven events will compete in the new ‘winner takes all' Grand Final, where the women's and men's champions will be crowned.
Madrid will also play host to the high stakes relegation play-off competition where teams ranked ninth to 12th will join the top four teams from the World Rugby Sevens Challenger, with the top four placed teams securing their place on HSBC SVNS 2025.
The reimagined competition model means fans can expect even more excitement, entertainment and nail-biting jeopardy. And with the clock counting down until rugby sevens kicks off the Olympic Games in Paris on 24 July 2024, the action will be hotter than ever on and off the pitch.
In line with World Rugby's commitment to grow the women's game, all HSBC SVNS events will see men's and women's teams sharing the platform equally to showcase their incredible strength, speed and skill on the biggest stages around the world.
HSBC SVNS events deliver the ultimate in immersive experiences, a unique festival of sport, entertainment, music, culture and cuisine alongside the world's best men's and women's athletes set against the spectacular backdrops of some of the most stunning locations around the globe.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Rugby.
Australia women and South Africa men claimed the first titles of HSBC SVNS 2024 with victory in Dubai as World Rugby’s reinvigorated global celebration of rugby sevens began with a bang at The Sevens Stadium. South Africa’s Blitzboks overcame a spirited Argentina 12-7 to lift their fifth straight Emirates Dubai 7s trophy – equaling the …
When a Sevens Team beats three other Sevens teams that only manage to post 7 points each against the Springbok 7‘s: 12-7; 14-7 and 24-7. The Springbok Sevens started their 2024 HSBC SVNS campaign on a high note in Dubai, winning the opening tournament of the new look series, beating Argentina 12-7 in a pulsating …
The Vodacom Bulls, Emirates Lions and the DHL Stormers recorded valuable Vodacom United Rugby Championship home victories in a rewarding weekend for the domestic sides as the competition begins to heat up with most Rugby World Cup stars back in action. Only the Hollywoodbets Sharks were unable to build on their first victory of the …
Elections held last week have revealed the four Members elected by the club and community game in Wales to sit alongside the eight appointed Directors already confirmed. The final pieces of the jigsaw were put in place when National Council Member Claire Donovan was elected to the WRU Board unopposed, while John Manders was confirmed …
Tim Swiel will make his debut at full-back tomorrow night when Edinburgh Rugby face Ulster Rugby in the BKT URC clash at Kingspan Stadium (Saturday 2 December, kick-off 5.15pm) – live on Viaplay. Swiel – who joined this summer but has had to wait for opportunity through injury – takes the place of the departing …
World Cup winning Springboks Damian Willemse, Manie Libbok and Deon Fourie have all been named in the DHL Stormers’ starting line-up for the Vodacom United Rugby Championship encounter with Zebre Parma in Stellenbosch on Saturday. The encounter with the Italian side kicks off at 19h15 on Saturday at the Danie Craven Stadium. Tickets are available …
There were many memorable stories told about the Springbok Sevens and their exploits at the Emirates Dubai Sevens over the years, and according to assistant coach Philip Snyman, that is something the team can be very proud of, but it is now time for a new book and the first chapter of that starts at …
It doesn’t happen too often that a rugby coach is satisfied with the amount of preparation done before a major tournament, but that’s not the case for Springbok Women’s Sevens coach Renfred Dazel on matchday minus one of the Emirates Dubai Sevens 2023, the first of eight tournaments in the new HSBC SVNS. The second …
The domestic Vodacom United Rugby Championship franchises will be determined to make the most of their home ground advantage once again this weekend and make up some ground on the log when they take the field in round seven of the thrilling inter-hemisphere showpiece. All four South African teams will be in action on home …
The Disciplinary process related to Eli Snyman’s (Benetton Rugby) Red Card in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship Round 6 game against Edinburgh Rugby on Friday, November 24 has resulted in a three game suspension. After an act of foul play by Benetton player No 5 (Eli Snyman), referee Aimee Barrett-Theron showed the Player a Red …
The one consistent among South Africa’s trio of BKT United Rugby Championship coaches in Jake White, John Plumtree and John Dobson, was the size of their smile in welcoming back their World Cup title-winning Springboks. Munster’s Graham Rowntree also grinned in welcoming Bok World Cup winner Jean Kleyn back into the team. The Emirates Lions …
Mason Grady says he has his mojo back and he will be out to prove it as he goes in search of revenge in this weekend’s Vodacom URC Welsh derby. By his own admission, the 21-year-old Cardiff Rugby threequarter didn’t have the World Cup he had been hoping for. He only started the one game …
There are few people better qualified to comment on the strides the Vodacom URC has made than John Muldoon. After all, no-one has made more appearances in the competition than the Connacht legend who is now back at the Irish province as a coach. In all, he played a record 254 games in the multi-nation …
Few would argue the impact Rights Mkhari has had on teams she has been involved with – whether it was in fifteens for the Springbok Women or the Bulls Daisies, or in the abbreviated game with the Springbok Women’s Sevens, the soft-spoken Limpopo-raised player has gained the respect of all. In the longer version, Mkhari …
An exciting new era for rugby sevens is set to start as Dubai marks the beginning of the new HSBC SVNS 2024 The action begins at 09:00 local time (GMT+4) on Saturday, with the women’s and men’s finals at 19:13 and 19:53 on Sunday respectively An exciting new era for rugby sevens will begin in …