‘I really want this one’: The SVNS title NZ star Felix-Hotham hasn’t won

Olympic gold medalist Jazmin Felix-Hotham has won every tournament in the HSBC SVNS Series except for the one in Dubai.

The Black Ferns Sevens are arriving in the desert to start the 2025/26 season on an unbeaten streak of 21 games from the 2024/25 season. However, Australia enters the opening tournament of the new season with a 24-game winning streak at the Sevens Stadium.

“I really want this one,” Hotham stated to RugbyPass, expressing her determination. “The last two finals against Australia felt like a game of tennis—back and forth. Just one or two key moments have decided the outcome for Australia or cost us the match.”

In 2024, New Zealand was leading by three points with just two minutes remaining when Maddison Levi intercepted the ball and sprinted 80 meters for the winning try. Although Jorja Miller scored a hat trick in 2023, it wasn’t enough to prevent a similar outcome, as Australia ended the Black Ferns’ 41-game winning streak with a score of 26-19. With the game tied at 19-19, Levi capitalised on consecutive penalties conceded by the Olympic champions to make her decisive run.

“Australia is looking really strong. They have several key players back from injury, like Sariah Paki, Madison Ashby, and Kaitlin Shave. Obviously, they have a lot of experience with the Levi sisters, and they undoubtedly have some quality youngsters as well,” Felix-Hotham said.

“The new format, with only five games over two days, means you have to hit your straps right away. We’re in an extremely tough group with the USA, France, and Fiji, all of which are quality sides. We’ve always said that SVNS is a marathon and not a sprint. You want to be peaking for the end-of-season trophy, but with only eight teams now, you have to be switched on from the outset.”

The Black Ferns Sevens were the undisputed queens of the circuit in 2024/25, winning 35 out of 37 games and capturing their first World Championship title in Los Angeles to complement the league championship they secured in April in Singapore. They also defeated Australia 26-19 in the Hong Kong Sevens final, with Jorja Miller scoring two tries after returning from a yellow card.

The Black Ferns will start the 2025/26 season without double Olympic gold medalists Sarah Hirini and Michaela Brake, both of whom are on maternity leave. However, Felix-Hotham is optimistic that the squad has enough depth to compensate for the loss of experience.

“It’s definitely a bit different without Sarah and Michaela around, but when we were in Mount Maunganui, they still showed up every day to put in the work, which is a testament to their commitment.

“The girls who’ve returned from the Rugby World Cup have come back with a real fire in their bellies. They were disappointed with the result in England, so expect big things from Jorja Miller, Braxton Sorensen-McGee, Stacey Waaka, and Katelyn Vahakolo.”

“What’s new? We have two awesome youngsters, Danii Mafoe and Olive Watherson. Danii is a wing in fifteens who’ll play prop for us. She’s played for Auckland and the Blues, and she has that rare combination of super strength and super speed. I’ve seen it; I played with her in Japan this year.

“Olive has been in and out of the squad. She debuted in Dubai last year and is a hooker with whom Sarah Hirini has been working closely at Mie Pearls.

Felix-Hotham, set to represent New Zealand in her 26th SVNS tournament, enjoyed a four-month stint from June to September playing in Japan with the Hokkaido Barbarians, a club where she had a unique opportunity to play as a teenager.

“They always told me the door was open, so after seven years in the Black Ferns Sevens environment, I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone and see what I could contribute,” she said.

“It was challenging because I don’t speak the language, and the team wasn’t a contender for trophies. In one tournament, we aimed to finish fifth, which is not something I would typically aim for, but I came to realise that success is not only about winning; some of these girls had never finished fifth and improved so much despite having full-time jobs and other challenges outside of rugby.

“One of the most amazing players was Emily Lekura from Uganda. There are few opportunities in Uganda, but she has an unbelievable passion for the game and ended up in Christchurch for a couple of seasons before getting the opportunity in Japan. This shows the new pathways available to women in rugby.

“I love the kindness and humility of the Japanese, and their food, wow. The experience in Japan gave me a new perspective, but I’m still ultra-competitive.”

Remarkably, Lekura scored 46 tries in nine games in one season of Uganda’s domestic competition.

Felix-Hotham surpassed 50 tries in the SVNS during the Black Ferns’ Grand Final victory in Los Angeles. She is also pursuing a psychology degree, which she humorously mentions has come in handy while consoling her injured brother, All Blacks halfback Noah Hotham.

“He’s had a tough year. He got injured in Hamilton against France in front of our whole family, except me. When the All Blacks played the Springboks in Wellington, I took some time off and went down, and he got injured in the first ten minutes. At least he can’t be blamed for the loss.

“We’re super close. He’s come to Mount Maunganui for some extra training, and he coached at Ingite Sevens, which was a different challenge for him.”