South Africa toughed out an intense and hard-fought final against Singapore champions to claim a first Australian title in more than a decade to add to the Cape Town crown they won in early December.
After streaking into an early lead, the Blitzboks were pegged back before player-of-the-final Ryan Oosthuizen muscled his way through three defenders to the tryline for the decisive score.
“[I’m] very happy with our performance,” he said immediately after the final. “Fiji is always a battle, and today definitely delivered. I’m super-proud of my team. We fought for one another and that’s the Blitzbok standard we set for each other.”
Looking back on his crucial second touchdown, he said wryly: “I’m always very happy to make an impact and luckily for me it worked out. I’m not the fastest guy so sometimes i need to run over people!”
South Africa’s captain Siviwe Soyizwapi added: “We worked so hard to replicate what we did in Cape Town. We lost a few key figures in our team in crucial positions — and so the youngsters had to step up.
“It took a week for them to play at their full potential, to get their confidence and play out of their socks, so coming into Perth, I think they hit the sweet spot and we’re really happy with how far they’ve come and how well the team just grew over each game that we played together. Getting the win is just a cherry on top.”
Final: Oosthuizen barnstormer settles hard-fought decider
South Africa hit their stride first in the final, as Ryan Oosthuizen and Sebastiaan Jobb both touched down in the first four minutes to streak out to a 14-0 lead.
But Singapore champions Fiji, looking to go back-to-back in Perth, have been here before. They were 12-0 down in the showpiece against France last week, and hit back through Viwa Naduvalo — he has 26 tries already in the HSBC SVNS this season, and seven in Perth — two minutes later.
That score was a real momentum-stealer. Jeremaia Matana and Terio Veilawa scored in quick succession either side of the break to give them the advantage. But player of the final Oosthuizen’s triple tackle-busting second snatched the lead back at 21-19 after a long-delayed conversion because of injury to Naduvalo.
The Blitzboks settled quicker after the enforced break. Replacement Donavan Don was tackled into touch as he dived for the tryline.
It didn’t matter. South Africa kept Fiji in their own half as they ran the clock down to claim the title and avenge their pool phase defeat on Saturday.
Earlier, a Naduvalo hat-trick and touchdowns for Nacani Boginisoko and Pilipo Bukayaro helped Fiji to a runaway 35-0 win over New Zealand and sent the Singapore champions into a second final in as many tournaments.
Two-time Perth finalists Australia were unable to replicate their day one form in the semi-final against South Africa, going down 28-12 at the end of a hard-fought encounter in which Sebastiaan Jobb scored twice.
BRONZE FINAL: Australia claim second win over New Zealand in fiery encounter
The first Trans-Tasman encounter of finals day, and the second in Perth this weekend, was a high-intensity affair, with Kele Lasaqa and Henry Hutchison both sin-binned as tempers flared at the end of the first half.
Regan Ware — helped off with a leg injury a short time later — and Jayden Blake had already traded unconverted tries as Australia sought a third podium finish in a row, after reaching the finals in 2024 and 2025.
Frank Vaenuku gave the All Blacks Sevens a second-half advantage with both sides still reduced to six. It looked like it would be enough
But a late yellow card for Kitiona Vai was decisive as Australia made the most of their numerical advantage, Josh Turner scoring and Ben Dowling converting to win it 12-10 for the hosts.
Earlier, Spain came back from 12-0 down to level the scores at 12-12 at the end of the first-half of an enthralling fifth-place play-off against Argentina, and repeated the trick to peg back the South Americans at 19-19 in the second. But, with the clock in the red, Luciano Gonzalez picked up a loose ball to win it 24-19 for Los Pumas Sevens.
Pedro De Haro earlier scored two of Argentina’s six tries in a one-sided encounter against six-player France, winning 47-12, after Les Bleus’ Andy Timo was sent off midway through the first half for a dangerous tackle
A day after they beat New Zealand and gave Australia a scare, Great Britain pushed Spain all the way in the fifth-place semi-final, eventually succumbing 28-19, after being level at 14-14 at the break.
Losing Singapore finalists France weathered a spell with two players — Ryan Rebbadj and Hoani Bosmorin — in the sin-bin to claim seventh with a 24-17 win over Great Britain, their second victory over the same opponents this weekend. Enzo Benmegal scored two of Les Bleus’ tries.
