Christie Grobbelaar has won the SVNS Series, Commonwealth gold and Olympic bronze, but a home appearance in Cape Town has so far eluded him.

The De Doorns native and former scholar from HTS Drostdy in Worcester hopes 2025 might just be the year for him to make his mark at Cape Town Stadium, where the tournament will be played on 6 and 7 December.

The 25-year-old returned to his Springbok Sevens stomping ground in Stellenbosch this week after playing three Currie Cup matches for the Sharks before making his debut in the URC. After two days of intense training, Grobbelaar admitted that the desire to play for the Blitzboks remains as strong as always.

“It is good to be back with the guys. It’s been tough to slot back in, but I am sure I will be fine once we play some matches this weekend.”

Grobbelaar refers to the Forward Faster Sevens Invitational in Stellenbosch, where he will run out with his current teammates as they prepare for the forthcoming SVNS Series.

They will play as the SA Sevens Invitational team and will face Wits Barbarians, Forward Legends and the SAS Invitational on Saturday, the first day of the tournament played at Markötter Stadium in Stellenbosch.

“Although I played in the Sevens World Cup in 2022, it’s weird that I have never played in the Cape Town Sevens,” said Grobbelaar, who played for Western Province at U19 and U21 levels.

“I was in the Dubai team last year and then got injured, so missed out on that magnificent win the guys achieved. And the year before, I also picked up an injury in Dubai.

“Come to think of it, in both those two Dubai tournaments, I got injured against New Zealand in the final pool game. Maybe I must ask coach Philip [Snyman] to give me a pass on that game should it come up this year,” he added with a smile.

Grobbelaar plays loosehead prop for the Blitzboks and on the wing for his URC outfit, and revels with ball in hand.

“Coach mentioned that he wants to use me at tighthead as well this season, which is fine and something I should be OK with,” said Grobbelaar, who weighs 95kg and is 1.95m tall. “As long as I can contribute to the team, I will be happy.”

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The fact that he missed out on the entire 2025 season, bar his solitary Dubai performance, has made Grobbelaar hungry to perform with the Blitzboks, who return to the SVNS circuit as defending world champions.

“I loved my time in Durban and the whole mission of going to the Sharks is to become a Springbok one day – I suppose that is any rugby player’s dream,” said Grobbelaar.

“But for now, I am happy to be back with the Blitzboks and to give it my all. Now to get that Cape Town tournament cap, that will be something else.”

2025-26 SVNS tournaments:
29-30 November: Dubai
6-7 December: Cape Town
31 January – 1 February: Singapore
7-8 February: Australia (venue TBC)
7-8 March: Vancouver
14-15 March: USA (venue TBC)
17-19 April: Hong Kong
29-31 May: Valladolid
5-7 June: Bordeaux

Photo: Christopher Pike/Getty Images