Hard-fought wins over Great Britain and Kenya meant that five-time 2025/26 HSBC SVNS Series tournament winners South Africa finished day one in Valladolid at the top of Pool A, but they have little room for error with Saturday’s first-up opponents Australia breathing right down their necks.
New Zealand and Argentina, meanwhile, set up a mouthwatering Pool B decider after each finished day one with perfect winning records; and Fiji marched to the top of Pool C with wins over France and USA.
POOL A: South Africa and Australia work hard to top pool on a tough day one
South Africa, HSBC World Championship leaders after the opening tournament in Hong Kong, were made to work for both their wins on the opening day of the penultimate round of the season in Valladolid.
Great Britain, 10th in the HSBC SVNS World Championship table after Hong Kong, gave the top seeds a real fright in the two sides’ first outing of the day, taking the five-time HSBC SVNS tournament winners this season into golden point extra time, before Tristan Leyds settled matters 17-12 in favour of the Blitzboks.
They rounded out day one with a perfect winning record after grinding out a second hard-fought win, Shilton van Wyk and Sebastiaan Jobb both scoring to beat Kenya 14-0.
It was that sort of day in a difficult Pool A. Dietrich Roache’s second try – in golden point extra time – gave Australia a 15-10 win over Kenya at the end of a gruelling, lungbusting encounter under a hot sun in north-western Spain.
Henry Hutchison and James Turner both scored twice to beat a brave and unfortunate Great Britain 26-21 to ensure Australia went unbeaten on day one – and set-up a mouth-watering deciding pool match against the Blitzboks, who won five tournaments on the main series before the tri-tournament World Championships.
Despite their two losses on day one, Great Britain – who round out their pool phase against Kenya on Saturday – still have a chance to reach the quarter-finals thanks to their two losing bonus points.
POOL B: All Blacks lead Pool B, but Dubuc’s Argentina lie in wait
New Zealand and Argentina set up a Pool B decider on Saturday with unbeaten runs on the opening day in Valladolid.
Gameplans this weekend in north-western Spain won’t come better executed than New Zealand’s dominant and controlled six-try 40-0 win over Uruguay on their first outing at a sweltering Estadio Jose Zorrilla.
Cedric Eichholz will go down in history as the scorer of the first try for Germany’s men’s sevens squad against New Zealand – and Chris Umeh the second – but the All Blacks Sevens ran in five touchdowns to two to claim a 33-12 win in the two sides’ first-ever meeting.
Those two big wins handed the All Blacks Sevens top spot in Pool B on day one, but Argentina are breathing down their necks.
They had survived a second-half fightback against Germany – winning 26-17, having gone 26-5 ahead shortly after the break. Makonnen Amekuedi scored twice for the determined European side.
And rising star Sebastian Dubuc scored a second-half triple as Argentina put one foot firmly in the quarter-finals with a convincing 40-14 win over South American neighbours Uruguay.
POOL C: Offload wizards Fiji stroll to top of the table
Under-pressure France, lying eighth after the first tournament of the HSBC World Championship Series, had their chances against Fiji – but ultimately fell to a sixth consecutive defeat to the Pacific Islanders this season, as Viwa Naduvalo, George Bose, Apete Narogo and Nacani Boginisoko capped a glorious offloading performance with a try apiece to win 26-12.
France, in desperate need of a win, opened up a 19-0 lead over hosts Spain in the final match of the day, courtesy of tries from Simon Desert, Rayan Rebbadj and Yerim Fall. But, inspired by scrum-half Juan Ramos, Spain forced their way back into the game in the second period – but Les Bleus scrambled in defence and held on to win 19-14 and keep their quarter-final hopes alive.
Angel Bozal scored the deciding try with the clock in the red and sent the home fans wild as Spain held off an almighty challenge from USA, to win 26-21, after Orrin Bizer and Jaime Manteca had traded touchdown doubles.
USA were left ruing the chances they didn’t take as Fiji worked their way to a 19-7 victory that put them in the quarter-final box seat. But their losing bonus against Spain means they remain in the qualification hunt heading into day two.