For Donavan Don, final weekend’s season opening match in Dubai felt like his Springbok Sevens debut yet again, one thing the Blitzbok flyer is certain will occur once more this weekend in Cape Town, the place the Cape Town Stadium will play host to the second match of the 2025 HSBC SVNS sequence.

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Don made his Blitzbok debut as a 21-year-old in Hong Kong in 2023 and performed in Singapore per week later for a satisfying begin to his sevens profession, which then stalled.

He regarded set for a correct season in 2024, however attributable to accidents, he solely performed in Perth in January this yr.

Come the brand new season, Don was eager to seize his alternatives with each palms and did so with aplomb finally weekend’s Dubai Sevens.

Playing at exterior centre and on the wing in his first look at The SEVENS, he scored 4 properly taken tries, together with a match winner in opposition to France to safe a high end of their pool on Saturday.

“That was a great feeling and something that will stay for me for a while, as it is always nice to score a try that really matters, in this case us winning the pool, which was a first objective for the tournament,” stated Don upon the crew’s arrival in Cape Town on Monday.

“Unfortunately, we did not follow through on the second day, something we had time to reflect on coming home. Cape Town will be something else, as I will also make my debut here if selected.”

Don realises it’s goes to be powerful for all of the groups this weekend, however the Blitzboks are excited to play in entrance of their residence crowd.

“We must make sure they are rewarded for coming out to support the team,” stated Don, who hails from Velddrif on the West Coast.

“We are disappointed with our placing in Dubai, but I know we can improve this weekend. The time spent together on tour was great for us as a squad and we bonded nicely. We will be playing for each other this weekend and such for the country as well.”

New format

A brand new format shall be in place this weekend, as reported first by The South African website.

Each crew will play solely two pool matches on Saturday, with the 4 pool winners progressing to the semi-finals, which can make it much more demanding, as groups who lose a pool sport can have a really small likelihood of progressing to the Cup playoffs on Sunday.

The second positioned groups will enter the Fifth-Eighth place playoffs and the third positioned groups go into the Ninth-Twelfth place playoffs.

“Teams can’t afford to lose, but that will only motivate us even more,” stated Don.

“We know that we are good enough to compete against any team, the belief is there. The challenge is to bring it all together this weekend and we will be up for that.”

Meanwhile, the schedule for the weekend has been confirmed with the Blitzboks taking part in Ireland at 11:44 and Argentina at 18:41 of their pool matches on Saturday.

Cape Town Sevens swimming pools

Women
Pool A: Australia, Canada, Brazil
Pool B: New Zealand, Japan, China
Pool C: France, Ireland, Spain
Pool D: Great Britain, USA, Fiji

Men
Pool A: Fiji, Great Britain, Uruguay
Pool B: Spain, Australia, Kenya
Pool C: Argentina, South Africa, Ireland
Pool D: New Zealand, France, USA

Cape Town Sevens pool fixtures – Saturday, 7 December

Women

09h00: USA vs Fiji

09h22: Ireland vs Spain

09h44: Japan vs China

10h06: Canada vs Brazil

12h16: Great Britain vs Fiji

12h38: France vs Spain

13h00: New Zealand vs China

13h22: Australia vs Brazil

15h42: Great Britain vs USA

16h04: France vs Ireland

16h26: New Zealand vs Japan

16h48: Australia vs Canada

Men

10h38: France vs USA

11h00: Australia vs Kenya

11h22: Great Britain vs Uruguay

11h44: South Africa vs Ireland

13h54: New Zealand v USA

14h16: Spain vs Kenya

14h38: Fiji vs Uruguay

15h00: Argentina vs Ireland

17h35: New Zealand vs France

17h57: Spain vs Australia

18h19: Fiji vs Great Britain

18h41: Argentina vs South Africa