Shilton van Wyk: 'I have to approach every tournament like it’s my last'

Coming into the 2025/26 HSBC SVNS Series season Shilton van Wyk had a set of simple objectives.

Be the best player in his position. Play in every tournament on the Series this season. Hit 35 tournaments for the Blitzboks. Make the 2026 Men’s Dream Team.

They are goals that the 25-year-old centre mutters to himself every day at least once.

If there was ever confirmation that those inflective idioms were having an impact, his efforts at South Africa’s home leg of the HSBC SVNS season almost a fortnight ago may just prove the point.

At DHL Stadium, as the Boks claimed their second Cape Town title in as many years. Van Wyk was in a class all of his own.

Just a week prior the team had slipped to a fifth place finish in Dubai. Historically a happy hunting ground for players in bottle green jerseys, for a second year in a row the South Africans found themselves outside the Cup spots and ended their time in the desert with a 21-12 win over Spain.

Even now Van Wyk cannot quite put his finger on what went wrong. In a pool game against Fiji, South Africa did not close the door on the Pacific Islanders and lost out 28-10.

A week later, on home soil, there were no such lapses in concentration. Drawn against the Fijians again, a hat-trick from Van Wyk propelled South Africa to a 24-21 that was met with the rapturous applause of a stoked up home crowd at the full-time whistle.

In Day 2’s finale South Africa faced off with Argentina. Another team looking to reverse their fortunes from Dubai after an eighth place finish, the South Americans offered stern opposition.

Down 19-7 just after half-time, second half scores for debutant Sonwabo Sokoyi and a late converted score from veteran Christie Grobbelaar handed the host side a 21-19 win.

For his efforts Van Wyk was awarded Player of the Final and confirmation that those solo words of affirmation are working.

“At the beginning of the season I told myself that the goal is to play at all nine tournaments,” he told RugbyPass. “I don’t want to just make the team, I want to play and be the number one player in my team. I want to be the number one centre on the Series.

“I have to approach every tournament like it’s my last tournament. I have to take the opportunity with two hands and make the most of it. In Cape Town I definitely gave it a go. I just want to play rugby and make my family’s name proud.

“I think with Cape Town, we were a bit under the pump against Fiji, but at the end we just stayed composed and stuck to what worked for us. I think that was the difference between Dubai and Cape Town.

“In Dubai when things didn’t go as we planned it to go, things got worse and in Cape Town when things didn’t go our way, we stuck to what worked for us, where patient and went with the flow.”

 

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Blitzboks head coach Philip Snyman discussed how he had implored his team to “stay in the moment” in the wake of lifting silverware in Cape Town.

It is clearly a message that got through to his players. But there was more to just a piece of high performance ideology that helped the side to success.

To capture the very essence of staying true to themselves, the Blitzboks did everything together the entire week. For every meal of the week the entire squad sat down with one another. This was the same at each activation session, gym session, training session and their hours away from rugby. Every waking moment.

“Everyone was relaxed and focused on what they were doing and what they needed to do on the weekend,” Van Wyk said.

With the next stop of the HSBC SVNS campaign in Singapore over a month away Van Wyk is enjoying some well earned time off. And completing any admin jobs that had been left over from the offseason.

There is little doubt that South Africa have high expectations for what the rest of this season will have in store. Last year in Los Angeles the team finished the campaign as World Champions.

Coming into Dubai, Philip Snyman discussed how 2025/26 will be a transitional year for the Boks in the LA28 Olympic Games cycle as a raft of young talent looks to breakthrough.

There is no secret that South Africa want success at the Games. Out of three editions of Olympic rugby sevens the side have taken home bronze medals twice. But they have the talent to finish a little higher up on the podium.

In Cape Town we all caught a glimpse of what the future could look like as Sonwabo Sokoyi got his first shot at the Series. Flurries of brilliance from 23-year-old were essential to Day 2 success for South Africa.

“Flip, there are a few guys that came in, they are good I must say,” Van Wyk smiled. “When I saw them for the first time I was like, ‘they’re being kids and making jokes – they can’t play’.

“But once they got used to the sevens you see that these guys can actually play. For me, personally, there’s a few guys – I won’t mention names – that might spark the SVNS Series up this year.

“It’s really exciting for everyone that’s in the squad. Everyone wants to play. Everyone knows what it takes. Our whole squad is ready to play and in Singapore there might be a few new faces, and they will get used to the circuit and play to the best of their ability.”

Until the HSBC SVNS Series resumes for what will undoubtedly be an utterly enthralling 2026, Van Wyk is going to stick to his plan for the festive period and keep whispering his goals for this season into existence.