Blitzboks win Hong Kong

South Africa’s Blitzboks won the Hong Kong Sevens for the first time on Sunday, beating defending champion Argentina 35-7 in the men’s final. (svns.com) The win came at the 50th anniversary edition of the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, played at Kai Tak Stadium before more than 37,000 fans on Sunday and 113,395 across the three-day weekend. (hksevens.com) South Africa beat Argentina twice in the tournament: 38-0 in pool play and 35-7 in the final after earlier losses and near-misses in past Hong Kong campaigns. (rugbypass.com) Hong Kong sits differently in sevens rugby than most stops because it has long been the sport’s marquee weekend, and captain Impi Visser said the team had “come close a few times in the past” before finally winning there. (hksevens.com) The result also opened the 2026 World Championship phase of HSBC SVNS, a three-leg finish after the regular season, with Hong Kong scheduled first on April 17-19. (world.rugby) South Africa arrived in Hong Kong as the top men’s team from the regular season after winning four of six events, including three straight titles in Perth, Vancouver and New York. (rugbypass.com) That made the opening-day loss to Spain in Hong Kong a jolt, but the Blitzboks recovered by beating Kenya 26-22 in the quarterfinals and New Zealand 26-14 in the semifinals before routing Argentina for the trophy. (news24.com) The Hong Kong title added a missing stop to South Africa’s sevens record and made the Blitzboks the seventh nation to win the men’s cup at the event, according to organizers. (hksevens.com) After years of failing to finish the job in rugby sevens’ best-known tournament, South Africa left Hong Kong with the trophy it had never won before. (svns.com)