Selvyn Davids (born 26 March 1994 in

Jeffreys Bay Jeffreys Bay (, nicknamed J-bay) is a town of 27,107 inhabitants as of the 2011 census in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Kouga municipality and is famous amongst surfers as a surf capital due to the right-han ...

) is a South African

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player for the South African Sevens team. His regular position is centre or winger.

Youth

Davids played for the Nico Malan High School first team between 2010 and 2013. In the 2013 season, he scored 408 points during the season. He also represented Eastern Province at all possible youth levels. In 2007, he played for them at the Under-13 Craven Week competition; in 2010, he played at the Under-16 Grant Khomo Week. He also played in the Under-18

Craven Week The Craven Week is an annual rugby union tournament organised for schoolboys in the Republic of South Africa. The tournament started in July 1964, and is named after the legendary Springbok rugby union player and coach Dr Danie Craven. The ...

tournaments in 2011 and 2012, culminating in a call-up to the South African Schools side in 2012, although he didn't make the final squad. At the end of 2013, he played in four matches for the side in the

2013 Under-19 Provincial Championship The 2013 ABSA Under-19 Provincial Championship will be contested from 12 July to 26 October 2013. The tournament will feature the Under-19 players from the fourteen provincial rugby unions in South Africa. Competition Group A There are seven pa ...

season, helping his side to win the Division B title (scoring a hat-trick of tries, five conversions and two penalties in the final) and subsequently win promotion to Division A.

Club rugby

Davids made his senior debut for the in the

2014 Vodacom Cup The 2014 Vodacom Cup was played between 7 March and 16 May 2014 and was the 17th edition of this annual domestic cup competition. This edition of the Vodacom Cup was played between fourteen provincial rugby union teams in South Africa from th ...

by coming on as a substitute in their 17–10 opening day defeat to

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

n side . He also appeared as a substitute in their next two matches – a 60–6 victory over the in

Grahamstown Makhanda, formerly known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 75,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Gqeberha and southwest of East London. It is the largest town in the Makana Local Mun ...

and a 56–22 loss to in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

– with Davids scoring a try in each of those matches. That led to his first senior start in their next match, a defeat to the in Cradock.

National sevens team

Davids was selected to represent the

South Africa national rugby sevens team The South African national rugby sevens team, commonly known as the Springbok Sevens, competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, the Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. Overall, the team has won the Wo ...

for the

2018 Hong Kong Sevens The 2018 Hong Kong Sevens was the 43rd edition of the Hong Kong Sevens tournament, and the seventh tournament of the 2017–18 World Rugby Sevens Series. The performance from this tournament determined the first fourteen seedings of the 2018 Ru ...

tournament. A largely inexperienced lineup (including five new caps) was given the opportunity as the bulk of the regular blitzbok squad was in preparation for the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

in Australia's Gold Coast. Davids was the only South African player included in the Hong Kong Sevens Dream Team at the end of the tournament. In 2022, He was part of the South African team that won their second

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

gold medal in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. He captained

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. They defeated

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

to win the bronze medal final.

References

External links

Selvyn Davids
at Springbok Sevens *
Selvyn Davids
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Davids, Selwyn South African rugby union players Living people 1994 births People from Kouga Local Municipality Eastern Province Elephants players Rugby sevens players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby sevens players for South Africa Rugby sevens players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for South Africa Commonwealth Games gold medallists in rugby sevens Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Rugby sevens players at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for South Africa Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics 21st-century South African sportsmen Rugby union players from the Eastern Cape