The Blitzboks suffered a heavy defeat to Spain in Sunday’s third-place playoff at the Bordeaux Sevens.
Having edged Fiji 14-12 in their quarter-final on Saturday to secure back-to-back SVNS World Championship titles, South Africa lost 21-12 to hosts France in their semi-final on Saturday before being hammered 40-14 by Spain.
France went on to beat New Zealand 14-5 in the final.
The Blitzboks started the day with only 10 fit players and then lost captain Impi Visser before their final match.
Shilton van Wyk scored early against Spain after chasing down his own kick for his fourth try of the weekend.
Spain fluffed their lines from the restart and from the resulting possession, Ricardo Duarttee scored an acrobatic try, which he converted to give the Blitzboks a 14-0 lead midway through the first half.
But Spain scored next after a patient build-up, where they kept the ball alive in contact, and eventually the South African defence faltered. Zain Davids was yellow-carded for impeding on the pass and after that, the Blitzboks imploded.
Spain immediately capitalised on that extra played and scored under the sticks when a desperate South African defence over-tracked to make it 14-14 at the break, and still playing against only six men, they made that 19-14 early in the second half.
The Spanish were on a roll and even when Davids returned, a well-executed lineout play handed then a fourth try and a 26-14 lead.
Duarttee was then yellow-carded with three minutes left, which sealed the deal for Spain.
Getting desperate on attack as the Blitzboks were running out of time, a long pass was intercepted by Spain, whose converted try made it 33-14.
Another unforced error, this time a charged-down kick, allowed Spain to score a final try.
CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD
South Africa are HSBC SVNS World Championship winners#HSBCSVNS pic.twitter.com/VW4IPlF3mP
— HSBC SVNS (@SVNSSeries) June 7, 2026
Photo: David van der Sandt/Gallo Images
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The Blitzboks suffered a heavy defeat to Spain in Sunday’s third-place playoff at the Bordeaux Sevens.
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