Belgium squad revealed for SVNS 2 stop in Kenya

Belgium Men’s Sevens head coach Jeff Williams has unveiled his team for their first HSBC SVNS 2 tournament in Kenya.

The squad contains seven members of the squad that finished as runners-up to Canada at HSBC SVNS 3 in Dubai last month. Hugues Bastin, Jean-Prieur de Plessis, Julien Berger, Mike Vanlierde, Samuel Couplan and Tornike Megrelidze will make their first appearances in 2026.

They will play Kenya, Uruguay, Canada, Germany and the USA in a round robin competition.

After this weekend’s tournament in Kenya, Belgium will play further legs of the HSBC SVNS 2 campaign in Montevideo and São Paulo. Teams placed in the top four of the overall standings will qualify for the HSBC SVNS World Championships in Hong Kong, Valladolid and Bordeaux.

In an interview with RugbyPass, Belgium boss Jeff Williams discussed how he was not putting pressure on his players: “I never like to think too much about results. We’re driven by attitude, effort and process. We didn’t have any meetings about what would happen if we went up or if we won.

“We talked about the experience. That’s the biggest thing I’ve learned from psychology and working with sports teams as a player is to take away the fear of these things and talk a lot about belonging.

“Then the players can deliver that great attitude, effort and process. The process is clear. The process is simple. If you put those things together, the results take care of themselves.

“It is a cliché, but when you do that, when you do it right, it just allows the player to play with freedom and to not play with this heavy burden on their shoulders of qualifying for SVNS 2 or getting to the Series.”

Belgium Men’s Sevens squad for Nairobi

Benjamin Ruddick
Gaspard Lalli (c)
Hugues Bastin
Isaac Montoisy
Jean-Prieur de Plessis
Julien Berger
Martin Marenne
Miguel Fachada
Mike Vanlierde
Nicolas Bulte
Ryan Godsmark
Samuel Couplan
Tornike Megrelidze