The Blitzboks will tackle the Hong Kong tournament this weekend with the baseline of setting their own standards and playing accordingly. That is the view of Philip Snyman, who made it all happen for the Blitzboks in recent seasons, as the coach elevated the SA sevens team to become the Sevens World Champions last year and more recently, won the overall Sevens Series.
The Blitzboks made the semi-finals in five of the six tournaments and won four, which was very close to achieving their target of making the top four in every tournament.
“We did the reset and we are ready for what Hong Kong will throw at us,” Snyman said on the eve of the first of three World Championship events. “We had a good week, worked hard and we are ready to play.”
For this weekend’s iconic Hong Kong event, the Blitzboks are grouped with Argentina, Spain and Uruguay.
“Discipline will be key again,” Snyman said. “We don’t want to lose any players due to cards and when we have the ball in hand, we need to keep that possession. The players are focussed and ready.”
Pools:
A: South Africa, Argentina, Spain, Uruguay
B: Fiji, France, Great Britain, Germany
C: New Zealand, Australia, Kenya, USA
Blitzboks pool schedule (all matches live on SuperSport, SA times)
Friday, 17 April
05:39 Uruguay
08:49 Spain
Saturday, 18 April
04:39 Argentina
Springbok Sevens squad for Hong Kong:
#2 Ryan Oosthuizen – 62 tournaments, 270 points (54 tries)
#3 Impi Visser (captain) – 50 tournaments, 240 points (48 tries)
#4 Zain Davids – 57 tournaments, 255 points (51 tries)
#7 Ronald Brown – 24 tournaments, 491 points (51 tries, 118 conversions)
#8 Selvyn Davids – 46 tournaments, 766 points (102 tries, 128 conversions, 1 penalty goal)
#11 Siviwe Soyizwapi – 64 tournaments, 800 points (160 tries)
#12 Shilton van Wyk – 32 tournaments, 355 points (71 tries)
#14 Quewin Nortje – 12 tournaments, 160 points (32 tries)
#15 Donavan Don – 14 tournaments, 113 points (21 tries, 4 conversions)
#16 Sebastiaan Jobb – 8 tournaments, 70 points (14 tries)
#19 David Brits – 15 tournaments, 60 points (12 tries)
#24 Tristan Leyds – 17 tournaments, 193 points (25 tries, 34 conversions)
#31 Jayden Nell – 1 tournament, 0 points
