SVNS mid-term report: Youth rules, new names, gun-shy Australia?

We’re halfway through SVNS 2025/26, and the men’s competition is on tenterhooks. Fiji leads South Africa by four points in the league table, even though the Blitzboks have won two of the four tournaments so far. The All Blacks Sevens took the win in Dubai, and Olympic champions France nearly beat Fiji in Singapore.

The Black Ferns Sevens keep raising the bar in women’s rugby. They’ve even managed to stop Australia’s star, Maddison Levi, from scoring tries.

So, what are the main storylines in SVNS 2025/26 so far?

Youth Rules

With two years to go until the 2028 Olympics, the 2025/26 season has a noticeably young vibe as teams prepare for Los Angeles. At the season opener in Dubai, 20 men and 20 women made their debuts. The only teams not to introduce any new players were the South African men and Australian women, and both are currently second in their respective standings.

In Perth, 29 women and 38 men in the competition had played five tournaments or fewer.

This partly explains the growing gap between the Black Ferns, Australia, and the rest of the women’s competition. Great Britain, France, and the USA are almost completely rebuilding their squads. Unlike New Zealand and Australia, Great Britain doesn’t have as entrenched development pathways.

While only half of the Black Ferns Sevens squad in Perth had played fewer than ten tournaments, Braxton Sorensen-McGee and Katelyn Vahaakolo bring valuable international fifteens experience. Maia Davis, Olive Watherston, Danii Mafoe, and Jaymie Kolose can be introduced gradually and confidently thanks to the team’s strong winning culture.

In the men’s competition, 48 out of 80 games have been decided by a converted try or less, showing how unpredictable things have become as new players settle in. Not surprisingly, South Africa and Fiji, who had the most experienced squads in Perth, played in the final and have won three of the four tournaments this season between them. Veterans Vuiviwa Naduvalo (Fiji) and Ryan Oosthuizen (South Africa) have paved the way for their respective countries this season.

Although Argentina, the two-time defending league champions, reached the Cape Town final, they seem to be in freefall. Six players in their Perth squad had played five tournaments or fewer. Among them, Eliseo Morales and Martiniano Arrieta look promising.

New Names

SVNS has always served as a platform for future rugby stars, and the 2025/26 series has produced some names to watch. Former Junior Springbok Sebastiaan Jobb is 26 but has only played six tournaments after two years of injuries. In Perth, he was the Blitzboks’ leading try-scorer with four, including a crucial first-half effort in the 21-19 final win over Fiji and two in the semi-final against Australia.

Finley Lloyd-Gilmour stunned the All Blacks Sevens on debut for Great Britain in Perth with a spectacular hat-trick that combined searing speed with instinctive opportunism.

Kele Lasaqa and Frank Vaenuku are two All Blacks Sevens youngsters flourishing. Lasaqa stunned Argentina with an unforgettable match-winning try and has the ability to create something from nothing. Frank “The Tank” Vaenuku is as destructive as his name suggests.

Wallace Charlie was MVP at the Global Youth Sevens in 2024 and moved straight into the Australian team, where his performances have been increasingly compelling.

George Bose has made it up to 10 tournament appearances, and his abrasive defence adds noticeable bite to Fiji’s attack.

Heidi Dennis exploded onto the women’s scene with two tries as a 19-year-old to help Australia win the 2025 Perth Sevens final against the Black Ferns Sevens. Her trajectory has continued upward. Hazuki Ouchida is a livewire for Japan. Susan Adegoke and Erica Coulibaly, who scored a try in the USA’s shock win over the Black Ferns Sevens in Dubai, are two Eagles that can fly.

Black Ferns Sevens Imperious

The absence of double Olympic gold medalists Sarah Hirni (53 SVNS Tourtatments) and Michela Brake (287 SVNS tries) in theory should have weakened the rampant Black Ferns Sevens. Instead, New Zealand is as imperious as ever.

Their win in Perth was their 45th out of 57 SVNS finals and their 24th in 34 finals against Australia, who they beat by a combined score of 65-14 in Singapore and Perth. In the last 11 tournaments, the Black Ferns Sevens have won the Cup eight times with a 53-4 record in all matches.

Risi Pouri-Lane, Stacey Waaka, Jorja Miller, and Jazmin Felix-Hotham are the remaining spine from the Paris Olympics success in 2024. Pouri-Lane and Waaka remain steadfastly dependable; Felix-Hotham and Miller have improved, which, in the case of Miller (only 22 years old), is scarcely believable. If she wasn’t already the best sevens player on the planet in 2024, she unquestionably is now. Her impact on both attack and defence is currently unparalleled. Her lead in the RugbyPass MPV standings is almost double that of the next-best player.

More impressive has been the Black Ferns Sevens’ ability to rejuvenate their roster. Katelyn Vahaakolo and Braxton Sorensen-McGee were always going to add quality from fifteens. The growth in Mahina Paul as a stepping, cunning playmaker and Kelsey Teneti as an explosive presence on the edge stands out. Teneti is the second-highest try scorer this season.

Gun-Shy Australia?

While the Black Ferns soar, has Australia stagnated? While their win in Cape Town was emphatic, their last two finals against the Black Ferns have been close to embarrassing.

Australia was physically overwhelmed in the Singapore and Perth finals and took a sound beating in Dubai too – a loss that ended a 28-game winning streak in the desert.

If the supply chain to Maddison Levi is suppressed, Australia seems to implode. Levi is the leading try scorer in the 2025/26 SVNS, but her production is dropping against the Black Ferns Sevens.

After scoring two tries in both the 2022 Commonwealth Games semi-final and Rugby World Cup final, both won by Australia, Levi has managed only 12 tries in 18 matches against the Black Ferns Sevens. She usually averages more than a try per game in all SVNS matches. In the last five matches against the Black Ferns Sevens, she has scored only one.

How can Australia involve Levi more, or leverage its other threats, to break New Zealand’s dominance?