Snyman praises players for triumph
Stellenbosch based Springbok Sevens coach Philip Snyman was beaming with pride after the Blitzboks won the HSBC SVNS Cape Town for the first time since 2015 on Sunday evening.
The Blitzboks beat France by 26-14 in the final of the tournament, which played out with more than 75,000 people in attendance over the two days.
It was a special evening for Snyman, who was part of the Blitzbok squad that won the inaugural Cape Town tournament in 2015, but he gave all the plaudits to the players, who delivered four great performances over the weekend.
“It’s really great to see the players enjoy this win,” said Snyman. “They are the real heroes of this weekend and they played for every member of our squad who could not be on the field tonight. “We are very happy with the win, especially since everyone in the squad worked extremely hard, and I’m very proud of how they played.”
Snyman said the Blitzboks identified two areas in their play they had to improve on since last weekend’s tournament in Dubai.
“We wanted to apply more pressure on defence and then play from turnover ball, and make sure we get the ball to our playmakers on the outside as soon as possible,” he said.
“We were very clinical and only conceded two tries on the first day and we clicked into a higher gear on day two. Slow starts in the semi-final and the final made things a bit difficult, but the guys showed a lot of character to come back and win those games.
“The players executed our plans to perfection this weekend and in doing so, they showed what we are capable of. They really played very well.”
Blitzbok co-captain Zain Davids said: “I think you can see the guys are [already] celebrating. We really wanted this. The guys showed a lot of heart out there – we played for each other.”
Impi Visser, the team’s other co-captain, added: “It’s just incredible. It’s been nine years since we last won it (here) so it’s great to break the curse and give the people of Cape Town something to really celebrate.
“We knew that we have a special group of players, but we came up a bit short last week in Dubai. Some new guys came in and really stepped up this week. We’re building something really special and once we have that self-belief we can really go to that number one spot.”
There were smiles for miles around the DHL Stadium on Sunday evening after the Springbok Sevens team won the Cape Town tournament.
Blitzbok debutant Zander Reynders was drafted into the squad following injuries to experienced campaigners Ryan Oosthuizen and Christie Grobbelaar and on Monday morning, he was still all smiles. Christmas really came early for the University of Pretoria engineering graduate, who will also celebrate his 24th birthday on 19 December.
“Everything happened pretty quickly and the whole experience was just amazing. I just wanted to make sure that I did the basics well and make no mistakes like dropping a ball or missing a tackle,” Reynders described his introduction to topflight sevens rugby.
“I have to thank my teammates as well for making it so seamless for me. They really took me under their wings in the week and helped me settle in. To be honest, now I want more.”
“I was shattered after my first five minutes of my debut at this level. Everything is just faster. I went into the tournament focused on the basics and looking back, I am just grateful it turned out like it did. I can sum it up with one word, gratitude.”
He also now understands why the Cape Town leg of the world series is so important to the Blitzboks: “It is just amazing playing in front of your friends and family and so many supporters. They really lifted us this past weekend.”
The Blitzboks will return to the training pitch at their Stellenbosch home base on Thursday. They will enjoy a break over the festive season but will resume training early next month as they start preparing for the Perth leg of the series, to be played from 24-26 January.
Selected stats from Cape Town:
Most points for SA:
20: Ricardo Duarttee
15: Shilton van Wyk
Most tackles for SA:
11: Ricardo Duarttee
10: Impi Visser
9: David Brits
Most tackles per team:
72: Australia
71: South Africa
62: Uruguay
