South Africa national rugby sevens team

The South African national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, the Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. Overall, the team has won the World Rugby Sevens Series 4 times, as well as having won 40 tournaments in the series.

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see South Africa women's national rugby sevens team.

South Africa
Nickname(s)Blitzboks, Blitzbokke
EmblemSpringbok
UnionSouth African Rugby Union
Head coachSandile Ngcobo (rugby union)
CaptainSelvyn Davids
Top scorerCecil Afrika (1,430)
Top try scorerSeabelo Senatla (224)
First colours
Second colours
Rugby World Cup Sevens
Appearances8 (First in 1993)
Best resultRunners-up (1997)

History

After readmission to international sport following the ending of the apartheid ban, the team played their first sevens series in the 1993 Hong Kong Sevens, and also participated in the 1993 Rugby World Cup Sevens. They also played in the Hong Kong Sevens for the next two seasons. In 1996, they also took part in the Punta Del Este Sevens in Uruguay and the Dubai Sevens.

They participated in the 1997 Rugby World Cup Sevens the following year as well as in 1998, they played three South American tournaments – the Mar Del Plata Sevens in Argentina, the Punta Del Este Sevens and the Viña del Mar Sevens in Chile. 1999 saw them participate in the Mar Del Plata Sevens, the Santiago Sevens in Chile, the Fiji Sevens, the Hong Kong Sevens, the Japan Sevens and the Paris Sevens.

At the end of 1999, the first World Rugby Sevens Series (then the IRB Sevens World Series) started and the team have been participating in that series ever since. In addition to the Sevens Series, they also played in the Rugby World Cup Sevens, the Commonwealth Games, the World Games and, from 2016 onwards, the Olympic Games.

The team's nickname, "Blitzboks", is derived from "blitz" an Afrikaans word meaning lightning, and the derivative of Springbok ("Bok"), the official emblem of the South African rugby team.

Tournament history

Summer Olympics
Olympic Games record
Year Round Position Pld W L D
2016 Bronze medal match 3rd 6 4 2 0
2020 Fifth place match 5th 6 5 2 1
Total0 Titles2/212930

Rugby World Cup Sevens
World Cup Sevens record
Year Round Position Played Won Lost Drew
1993 Quarterfinals 5th 8 6 2 0
1997 Final 2nd 7 6 1 0
2001 Quarterfinals 5th 6 5 1 0
2005 Quarterfinals 5th 6 4 2 0
2009 Quarterfinals 5th 4 3 1 0
2013 Quarterfinals 5th 4 3 1 0
2018 Semifinals 3rd 4 3 1 0
2022 7th place final 7th 4 2 2 0
Total0 Titles8/84332110

Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games record
Year Round Position Pld W L D
1998 Quarterfinalists 5th 5 4 1 0
2002 Semifinalists 3rd 6 5 1 0
2006 Plate Finalists 6th 6 3 3 0
2010 Semifinalists 3rd 6 5 1 0
2014 Champions 1st 6 6 0 0
2018 Semifinalists 4th 5 3 2 0
2022 Champions 1st 6 6 0 0
Total2 Titles403280

World Games
TournamentPlacing
2005 Duisburg 2nd (Silver)
2009 Kaohsiung[1] 3rd (Bronze)
2013 Cali[2] 1st (Gold)

World Rugby Sevens Series
Main article: South Africa at the World Rugby Sevens Series

Series Record
Season Position
1999–00 5th
2000–01 5th
2001–02 2nd
2002–03 4th
2003–04 5th
2004–05 4th
2005–06 3rd
2006–07 4th
2007–08 2nd
2008–09 1st
2009–10 6th
2010–11 2nd
2011–12 5th
2012–13 2nd
2013–14 2nd
2014–15 2nd
2015–16 2nd
2016–17 1st
2017–18 1st
2018–19 4th
2019–20 2nd
2021 1st
2021–22 2nd
2022–23 7th
2023–24 7th
Total-


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)

Cup wins
Season Tournament Final opponent Score
2001–022002 Wellington SevensSamoa17–14
2002–032003 Cardiff SevensArgentina35–17
2003–042003 Dubai SevensNew Zealand33–26
2004 Singapore SevensArgentina24–19
2004–052005 London SevensEngland21–12
2005–062006 Paris SevensSamoa33–12
2006–072006 Dubai SevensNew Zealand31–12
2007–082008 Adelaide SevensNew Zealand15–7
2008–092008 Dubai SevensEngland19–12
2008 South Africa SevensNew Zealand12–7
2009 Adelaide SevensKenya26–7
2010–112011 USA SevensFiji24–14
2011 London SevensFiji24–14
2011 Edinburgh SevensAustralia36–35
2012–132013 USA SevensNew Zealand40–21
2013 Japan SevensNew Zealand24–19
2013 Scotland SevensNew Zealand28–21
2013–142013 South Africa SevensNew Zealand17–14
2014 USA SevensNew Zealand14–7
2014–152014 Dubai SevensAustralia33–7
2014 South Africa SevensNew Zealand26–17
2015–162015 South Africa SevensArgentina29–14
2016–172016 Dubai SevensFiji26–14
2017 Wellington SevensFiji26–5
2017 Sydney SevensEngland29–14
2017 USA SevensFiji19–12
2017 Paris SevensScotland15–5
2017–182017 Dubai SevensNew Zealand24–12
2018 Paris SevensEngland24–14
2018–192019 Vancouver SevensFrance21–12
2019 Singapore SevensFiji20–19
2019–202019 Dubai SevensNew Zealand15–00
2020 Los Angeles SevensFiji29–24
20212021 Vancouver SevensKenya

38-05

2021 Edmonton SevensGreat Britain24–12
2021–222021 Dubai SevensUSA42–7
2021 Dubai SevensAustralia10–

7

2022 Malaga SevensArgentina24–17
2022 Sevilla SevensAustralia33–7
2022–23 2022 Dubai Sevens Ireland 21–5
2023–24 2023 Dubai Sevens Argentina 12–7

Current season
Main article: 2021–22 World Rugby Sevens Series

Players

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 (1997-05-04) 4 May 1997 42 Unattached
Christie Grobbelaar Forward (2000-05-25) 25 May 2000 18 Unattached
Kat Letebele Forward (2003-11-18) 18 November 2003 2 Unattached
Masande Mtshali Forward (2003-07-10) 10 July 2003 7 Unattached
Ryan Oosthuizen Forward (1995-05-22) 22 May 1995 45 Unattached
Impi Visser Forward (1995-05-30) 30 May 1995 34 Unattached
Ronald Brown Back (1995-09-02) 2 September 1995 15 Unattached
Selvyn Davids (c) Back (1994-03-26) 26 March 1994 31 Unattached
Justin Geduld Back (1993-10-01) 1 October 1993 56 Unattached
Dewald Human Back (1995-05-19) 19 May 1995 24 Unattached
Quewin Nortje Back (2003-01-14) 14 January 2003 2 Blue Bulls
Rosko Specman Back (1989-04-28) 28 April 1989 32 Griquas
Shilton van Wyk Back (1999-12-22) 22 December 1999 15 Unattached

Records and statistics

Previous squads

The previous South African Sevens squads are as follows:

Player records

The following tables show the leading career South Africa players based on statistics from the World Rugby Sevens Series. Players in bold are still active.

Award winners

The following South Africa Sevens players have been recognised at the World Rugby Awards since 2004:[6]

References
  1. "World Games Day 2: Fiji cruise to Gold Medal". Ultimate Rugby Sevens. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  2. "2013 World Games rugby results". Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  3. World Rugby website, current as of 15 March 2020
  4. World Rugby website, current as of 15 March 2020
  5. World Rugby website, current as of 15 March 2020
  6. "Awards Roll of Honour - World Rugby". www.world.rugby. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
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