The Springbok Women’s Sevens will make a return to Nairobi, where they will hope to repeat their Rugby Africa Women’s Cup Sevens heroics of a few months ago in the first round of the HSBC SVNS 2 tournament.
Cecil Afrika’s continental queens booked their place in the second tier of world sevens with an unbeaten run in the HSBC SVNS 3 tournament in Dubai at the weekend, brushing their pool rivals aside on Saturday and dispatching Poland in similarly dimissive fashion in the semi-finals on Sunday morning before fighting back to beat Argentina12-5 in the final.
In the process, Afrika claimed his second consecutive tournament title since taking over the coaching in October, and has yet to taste defeat as Bok Women’s Sevens coach as they continue their quest to play in the world series once more.
“It was a great win and the players deserve all the credit – we really defended well, but our attack also proved very effective,” said Africa.
This is what it means 🤩
South Africa and Argentina Women’s and Canada and Belgium Men’s secured their places in HSBC SVNS 2#HSBCSVNS pic.twitter.com/cC7vu1KxZ4
— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) January 19, 2026
“Overall, I think we got the balance right at this tournament. When we needed to, we defended our line very well and when the opportunity came, we could switch to attack and scored some really nice tries.
“One of the keys to a successful defensive effort is for players to work hard for each other, getting back in line, getting back off the floor to get in position and to trust the system and not try things on your own.”
Unlike SVNS 3, which took place over one weekend in Dubai, the SVNS 2 series will be played over three weekends at different venues, starting in Nairobi on February 14 and 15. The second round will take place in Montevideo, Uruguay on March 21 and 22, before the final round in Sao Paulo, Brazil on March 28 and 29.
Afrika and his charges will struggle to maintain their unbeaten run against teams that are a big step up in quality over the weekend’s rivals. South Africa and Argentina’s women join Kenya’s Lionesses, China, Spain, and Brazil to form the six women’s teams in SVNS 2.
The top four sides in SVNS 2 will earn promotion to the SVNS World Championship, where they will compete against the top eight teams from SVNS Division 1 across the season’s closing events in Hong Kong, Valladolid, and Bordeaux.
