South Africa: Fact file

Form guide

South Africa's women's team finished the regular season in 11th and travelled to Madrid needing to win back their core team status in the SVNS Play-off, a feat they did not manage to achieve as they lost out to Spain 22-0 in the decisive match. However, they travel to Paris buoyed by the prospect of playing a first-ever Olympic tournament.

South Africa's men are not yet qualified for Paris 2024 and have one final chance at the World Rugby Sevens Repechage in Monaco. They won the opening event of SVNS 2024 in Dubai last December but failed to maintain that level and finished the regular season in seventh place, safely retaining their core team status. They finished the season on a high by beating Australia 24-21 to finish fifth at the season-ending Grand Final in Madrid. 

Star dust

Sevens commentator and reporter Rob Vickerman says: "Of all the women's sevens players, Nadine Roos is likely to cover the most grass in Paris. The cross-fit champion continually motivates her team with boundless energy."

Road to Paris 2024

South Africa’s women won the Rugby Africa Women’s Sevens regional qualifying tournament in Tunisia, beating Zimbabwe (26-0), Uganda (19-0) and Tunisia (27-7) in pool play before rounding off the tournament with a 12-7 win against Kenya. South Africa's men have one final chance to qualify at the Monaco repechage event. 

Previous Olympics

While South Africa's women have never competed at an Olympic Games, the country's men competed at both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, taking bronze in Brazil.