South Africa | |
Nickname: | Blitzboks, Blitzbokke |
Badge: | Flag of South Africa.svg |
Badge Size: | 160 |
Emblem: | Springbok |
Union: | South African Rugby Union |
Confederation: | Rugby Africa |
Coach: | Sandile Ngcobo (rugby union) |
Captain: | Selvyn Davids |
Top Scorer: | Cecil Afrika (1,430) |
Top Try Scorer: | Seabelo Senatla (224) |
World Rugby Trigramme: | RSA |
Pattern La1: | _orange_border |
Pattern B1: | _goldcollar |
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Pattern Sh1: | _sides_on_white |
Pattern So1: | _3_stripes_gold |
Leftarm1: | 275237 |
Body1: | 275237 |
Rightarm1: | 275237 |
Shorts1: | CDCDCD |
Socks1: | 275237 |
Pattern La2: | _skyblueborder |
Pattern B2: | _greyblue_sleeve_seams |
Pattern Ra2: | _skyblueborder |
Pattern Sh2: | _navysides |
Pattern So2: | _3_stripes_gold |
Leftarm2: | FEFEFE |
Body2: | FEFEFE |
Rightarm2: | FEFEFE |
Shorts2: | ED9839 |
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World Cup Sevens Apps: | 8 |
World Cup Sevens First: | 1993 |
World Cup Sevens Best: | Runners-up (1997) |
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.
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.
Olympic Games record | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Round | Position | |||||
2016 | Bronze medal match | 3rd | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | |
2020 | Fifth place match | 5th | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | |
2024 | Bronze medal match | 3rd | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | |
Total | 0 Titles | 2/2 | 18 | 12 | 6 | 0 |
World Cup Sevens record | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
width=80px | 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 | |||
Total | 0 Titles | 8/8 | 43 | 32 | 11 | 0 |
Commonwealth Games record | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Round | Position | |||||
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 | |
Total | 2 Titles | 40 | 32 | 8 | 0 |
Tournament | Placing |
---|---|
2005 Duisburg | 2nd (Silver) |
2009 Kaohsiung[1] | 3rd (Bronze) |
2013 Cali[2] | 1st (Gold) |
See main article: South Africa at the World Rugby Sevens Series.
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 | - |
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 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Samoa | 17–14 | |||
35–17 | ||||
33–26 | ||||
Argentina | 24–19 | |||
21–12 | ||||
Samoa | 33–12 | |||
New Zealand | 31–12 | |||
New Zealand | 15–7 | |||
England | 19–12 | |||
New Zealand | 12–7 | |||
Kenya | 26–7 | |||
Fiji | 24–14 | |||
Fiji | 24–14 | |||
36–35 | ||||
New Zealand | 40–21 | |||
New Zealand | 24–19 | |||
New Zealand | 28–21 | |||
New Zealand | 17–14 | |||
New Zealand | 14–7 | |||
Australia | 33–7 | |||
New Zealand | 26–17 | |||
Argentina | 29–14 | |||
Fiji | 26–14 | |||
Fiji | 26–5 | |||
England | 29–14 | |||
Fiji | 19–12 | |||
15–5 | ||||
New Zealand | 24–12 | |||
England | 24–14 | |||
2019 Vancouver Sevens | France | 21–12 | ||
Fiji | 20–19 | |||
New Zealand | 15–00 | |||
2020 Los Angeles Sevens | Fiji | 29–24 | ||
2021 Vancouver Sevens | Kenya | 38-05 | ||
2021 Edmonton Sevens | Great Britain | 24–12 | ||
2021–22 | USA | 42–7 | ||
Australia | 10–7 | |||
2022 Malaga Sevens | Argentina | 24–17 | ||
2022 Sevilla Sevens | Australia | 33–7 | ||
2022–23 | 2022 Dubai Sevens | Ireland | 21–5 | |
2023–24 | 2023 Dubai Sevens | Argentina | 12–7 |
See main article: 2021–22 World Rugby Sevens Series.
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.
The previous South African Sevens squads are as follows:
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.
+Tries scored[3] | |||||
width=25 | No. | width=110 | Player | width=40 | Tries |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 230 | ||||
2 | 179 | ||||
3 | 179 | ||||
4 | 114 | ||||
5 | 117 | ||||
+Matches[4] | |||||
width=25 | No. | width=110 | Player | width=40 | Matches |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 397 | ||||
2 | 373 | ||||
3 | 347 | ||||
4 | 345 | ||||
5 | 344 | ||||
+Points[5] | |||||
width=25 | No. | width=110 | Player | width=40 | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1462 | ||||
2 | 1402 | ||||
3 | 1150 | ||||
4 | 1049 | ||||
5 | 925 | ||||
The following South Africa Sevens players have been recognised at the World Rugby Awards since 2004:[6]
width=40 | Year | width=170 | Nominees | width=170 | Winners |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2006 | Stefan Basson | align=center rowspan=3 | — | ||
2008 | Fabian Juries | ||||
2009 | Renfred Dazel | ||||
2011 | Cecil Afrika | Cecil Afrika | |||
2014 | Kyle Brown | — | |||
width=40 | Year | width=170 | Nominees | width=170 | Winners |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
align=center rowspan=2 | 2015 | Werner Kok | align=center rowspan=2 | Werner Kok | |
Seabelo Senatla | |||||
2016 | Seabelo Senatla (2) | Seabelo Senatla | |||
2017 | Rosko Specman | — | |||