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Table position takes centre stage as HSBC SVNS Series touches down in Singapore
By Joe Harvey
This weekend in Singapore all 16 HSBC SVNS Series teams are competing for vital points ahead of the three-tournament Championship later this year.
Fiji’s men and New Zealand’s women will be defending champions at the National Stadium.
The Pacific Island nation are locked in a three way tie at the top of the men’s standings with South Africa and New Zealand.
Blitzboks captain, Siviwe Soyizwapi, is making his first appearance for Philip Snyman’s team this season. He can break Perry Baker’s record of 29 tries at the tournament this weekend.
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Having missed the success on home soil in December, the 33-year-old is not going allow his team’s last outing cloud their judgement in Asia.
“Cape Town Sevens went well for us, but it’s a new tournament in Singapore, so we can’t still think of that old victory,” Soyizwapi said. “We have had to start all over again. And we had to work harder to be able to come into this weekend and give an even better performance.
“I’m feeling very excited going into this weekend. It’s another opportunity for us to keep growing as a team. We want to build consistency. We want to get the new players coming into the squad to experience a bit of sevens.
“The camp that we had as a group, training together and trying to build that consistency and that synergy has been very exciting, which makes me excited for the weekend coming up.”
Much like in the men’s competition there is a tie at the top of the women’s standings. With a tournament win apiece both New Zealand and Australia have 38 points each.
Australia skipper, Isabella Nasser, was a leading light for her team in Cape Town. Coming into Singapore, after a fruitful Christmas break, the 23-year-old is excited to get back on the turf ahead of a home leg in Perth.
“We’ve prepared really well,” Nasser said. “Off the back of Cape Town when we got the win, we had a really good Christmas preparation and then into a couple of weeks post-Christmas. And we’re really excited to kick off in Singapore – we love Singapore, it’s one of our favourite tournaments, so we’re really pumped. We’re getting used to the heat and the humidity!”
Men’s Pools
Pool A – South Africa, Fiji, Great Britain, Spain
Pool B – Argentina, France, New Zealand, Australia
Women’s Pools
Pool A – Australia, USA, Japan, Fiji
Pool B – New Zealand, France, Canada, Great Britain
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