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Veteran Blitzbok player Ryan Oosthuizen believes each game at the Emirates Dubai 7s event this weekend will be akin to a knockout round, and he cautions that a sluggish beginning might hinder their chances of starting the 2025/26 HSBC SVNS Series strongly.

“The format has been altered for this season, and it’s going to be a tough competition,” Oosthuizen stated.

Only the top eight teams will compete, making each match as intense as a final. Expect every game, starting from the first in the pool, to be highly competitive. We must be perfectly prepared from the very first minute.

It’s a knockout stage from the very first game, and our initial match is against France. We’ve concentrated on them this week to ensure we get past this first challenge and then take each game as it comes. There’s no time to regain momentum once you’re behind; you need to be fully engaged from the start.

Oosthuizen has an impressive track record in Dubai, having won six of the eight events he has participated in within the UAE desert. He suffered a concussion early in the group stages of last year’s 12-team competition and was unable to continue in the tournament, which Fiji ultimately claimed victory in.

The seasoned Blitzbok forward then failed to participate in the second leg of the series, held in Cape Town a week later, where the local team achieved a landmark victory.

He will participate in his 57th World Series event this weekend, having first competed in 2016 and scoring 46 tries. He is relying on a seasoned team core to help them return to success in a tournament where the Blitzboks have previously been dominant.

Some of us have been part of this team since 2016, and it’s a great group with lots of experience; the players have been training together for many years.We are aware of each other’s abilities and limitations and can adjust accordingly,” he said.

Eleven of the 13 athletes chosen for the opening competition were also part of the team that secured victory in last season’s final tournament held in Los Angeles, and Oosthuizen believes the experience within the squad might be crucial in tightly contested games.

That should assist us in difficult situations, I believe.

Only the first and second teams in every group will move on to the cup semi-finals, with the remaining teams competing for the lower positions. South Africa is in Pool A along with Argentina, Fiji, and France. Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, and Spain are part of Pool B.

The Cape Town stop in the series will occur next weekend.