All to play for: Five things we learnt ahead of SVNS Bordeaux

One weekend. One city. A competition wide open, and all to play for.

The inaugural HSBC SVNS World Championship is set to be sudden death, as Australia shook up the table across the weekend.

The women’s side finally ended their losing streak to the Black Ferns 7s and beat the USA in the final, while the men overcame the Blitzboks to win their first leg of the year, marking the first Aussie sweep of the SVNS since 2018.

The sides now head to Bordeaux for the final weekend of action, setting the stage for a truly unpredictable finale to the 2025-26 HSBC SVNS season.

RugbyPass breaks down the key talking points ahead of a big weekend in the south of France.

Catch up on HSBC SVNS World Championship action on RugbyPass TV. You can create an account HERE.

Best of three a perfect balance

No longer does the HSBC SVNS  Championship Finals feel like an extra leg tacked on at the end of the regular season.

After a big weekend in Hong Kong China, Valladolid served up everything a SVNS fan could want: upsets, surprises, and fun in the sun.

Not only has extending the World Championship with the SVNS 2 sides given more chance for those teams to shine, but it has kept the benefits of previous finals legs in serving up unpredictable results, with the Aussie victories throwing all predictions into chaos.

Whether the locations change or not, weekends like this have shown that, at least in the case of the World Series, a six-round regular season and a three-round finals season is the perfect balance for challengers to surprise, and for the heavyweights to reply.

With the SVNS 2 teams also showing their worth, it’s a good time to be a fan of the short format of the game.

The battle to take Team GB’s World Series spot

Under the Spanish sun, the men’s and women’s teams for Great Britain played for their spot in the World Series – and unfortunately, the relegation door has firmly closed on both sides.

While the men fought hard, going down by less than a try in all of their pool fixtures to Australia, South Africa and Kenya, the women were held scoreless by Spain and France, losing 21-12 to Canada.

Capped off with two last-place finishes in finals, unless Team GB can turn around and win the Bordeaux SVNS, their time in the World Series is likely done – and who replaces them from SVNS 2 becomes the key question.

The men’s competition sees Kenya as the front runner despite a disappointing eighth-placed finish in Spain, the side needing to defeat Great Britain again this weekend to make the quarter finals, which should be enough to hold out Uruguay, Germany and the United States.

The women’s competition is even closer, with Spain on track to join the men’s side in the World Series after finishing in eighth.

They will also need to defeat Great Britain in Pool C for a quarter-final finish, but should they slip up, Brazil and South Africa are in a prime position to capitalise if they pull a surprise victory.

Three-way race opens up in men’s competition

After Australia’s men’s side snuck into third in the regular season in New York, the side finally delivered on their pool form when it came to finals, beating the Blitzboks twice in one weekend and overcoming Kenya and Fiji to win the Spain Sevens for the first time ever.

Argentina also continued their surge in form despite going down to South Africa in the semis, defeating Fiji to put the islanders 12 points behind the top of the table.

The result sees a three-way race for the men’s championship this weekend, with South Africa’s runner-up finish seeing them hold a four-point lead over Argentina, with the Aussies four points behind them.

The Blitzboks will need to finish third or higher in Bordeaux to confirm their championship title, and hope Argentina or Australia don’t claim top honours, as even a fourth-place finish with those two finishing higher could prove catastrophic.

Australia are unlikely to win if the Pumas 7s and Blitzboks go deep, needing to win outright again to have any hope of snatching the Championship, but they have put themselves into a winnable position to do so.

Argentina are more likely to catch the Saffas given their four-point advantage, and should they do so, it would prove fitting after the South Africans denied them a Championship gold medal finish in 2025-26 series.

Biggest game of the weekend

We asked the question if anyone could stop the Black Ferns ahead of the Spain SVNS. In the semi-finals, the Aussie Women finally answered it with a 28-26 win, claiming their third consecutive Spain SVNS title.

It was even more impressive that they did it with several star players out, most notably Maddison Levi. Going on to win the final 27-14 over the USA, the Aussies took the top of the table from the Kiwis, who won 50-14 over Canada to claim third.

Considering both sides slipped up in Valladolid, with the Aussies losing their final pool game to the United States, it could open the door for an unlikely challenger in the USA or France this weekend.

But, if we’re to go off the form of the season, we’re set for the ultimate winner-takes-all grudge match in Bordeaux, if and when both sides meet in the finals.

No rivalry in the men’s or women’s competitions this year has been as intense as the matches in the women’s competition between Australia and New Zealand.

Perfect place for curtain call

The final weekend of the HSBC SVNS is upon us, and few places have a more eclectic history with the circuit than France.

Having previously been played in Toulouse in the last season that the men’s and women’s circuits were played separately, this coming weekend marks the first time Bordeaux has hosted the Men’s SVNS since 2004.

For the women, it marks the first time that the Women’s SVNS circuit will be played in the southern French City, having previously travelled to Toulouse, Paris, Biarritz and Clermont-Ferrand.

With the French women’s side also still in the mix to potentially pull an out-of-nowhere win should Australia and New Zealand fall at the final hurdle, expect the French fans to show up with their characteristically loud support to send the series out in style.

Men’s Pools:

Pool A: South Africa, Fiji, Kenya, Great Britain

Pool B: Australia, Spain, United States, Uruguay

Pool C: Argentina, New Zealand, France, Germany

Women’s Pools:

Pool A: New Zealand, France, South Africa, Argentina

Pool B: Australia, Japan, Fiji, Brazil

Pool C: United States, Canada, Spain, Great Britain