The Blitzboks won their third HSBC 7s title of the season by winning in Vancouver, Canada.
Image: Zach Franzen / World Rugby
The Blitzboks have gone back-to-back by winning the HSBC SVNS Series Vancouver title on Monday morning (SA time) with a 38-12 victory over Spain at BC Place.
Phillip Snyman’s team, who were unbeaten across the weekend, also won in Perth last week and have now claimed a third HSBC SVNS tournament crown of the 2026 season to surge to joint top of the overall men’s standings with Fiji.
The South Sea islanders lost to Spain in the semi-finals but recovered to finish third - their fifth successive podium finishes in five HSBC SVNS Series tournaments - with a victory over Australia.
It was the Blitzboks’ first title in Canada since the Covid-shortened series in Edmonton in 2021.
Blitzboks captain Impi Visser was pleased the way his squad were able to adapt to a major squad overhaul in Vancouver.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” said Visser, who scored the final try in the victory over Spain in the final.. “Sometimes we take it for granted but it’s an amazing feeling and we’re really grateful for it.
“We’ve had a lot of changes - six changes from Perth to now and the thing we said we want to build is consistency. I think we’ve shown that through and through. We just need to keep up this momentum going into New York.”
South Africa and Fiji are both on 86 log points heading into next weekend’s series finale in New York. Fiji (+201) are fractionally ahead of the Blitzboks (+199) on match points differential.
The Blitzboks raced out of the blocks and into a 17-0 lead against Spain in the final.
Ryan Oosthuizen scored after a quick tap penalty put him in possession 50 meters out and like the Perth final, he scored the opening try of the match.
The Blitzboks defensive alignment caused all sorts of problems to Spain, who panicked and tried elaborate passing to release pressure. Twice though, that resulted in SA turnovers and Sebastiaan Jobb and Shilton van Wyk scored from those for a 17-0 lead at the break.
Tristan Leyds was named Player of the Final after the Blitzboks claimed the HSBC 7S Vancouver title.
Image: World Rugby
Jobb ran onto a pinpoint pass from Tristan Leyds and Van Wyk chased down a Leyds grubber as South Africa won a line-out from a Spain throw-in.
Leyds was named Player of the Final for his exploits.
The second half delivered another masterclass from Visser and his men. Van Wyk scored early in the half as Spain was again pinged in their half and conceded possession.
They finally broke their deadlock when Jeremy Trevithick outpaced the tiring SA defence.
From the restart though, Gino Cupido ran onto a Jobb pass to score and the successful conversion all but confirmed the result. Spain scored once more before the final try was fittingly scored by Visser, who intercepted another stray Spain pass, with the captain running 50 meters to deliver the final blow.