Blitzboks boss: Only our best will do

Today at 05:26 AM

Head coach Philip Snyman says the Blitzboks must “pitch up” if they want to celebrate lifting back-to-back World Sevens Series trophies Down Under this week.

"To be the best you have to beat the best. We want to be the best team in Perth this weekend so we know what we need to do."

That is the view of Snyman as his troops return to action, this time for the third round of the 2024-25 series at HBF Park on the Australian West Coast from Friday to Sunday.

"We strive to be the best team in the world, so this weekend in Perth will show us how far we are from that objective," said Snyman after the Blitzboks finished their preparations for a tough pool consisting of the USA, Australia and Argentina.

"We had a good week in Cape Town the last time the teams played, but that win is in the past now. It gave us the belief that we are good enough to win, now we must make sure that we maintain the standards we have set.

"This is really a competitive season and there are no so-called easy games at all. You need to be at you very best and pitch up if you want to be competitive."

The Blitzbok coach is well aware of the strengths of the hosts and the abilities of Argentina, but he said the focus is on USA, their first opponent for the weekend on Friday.

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"We want to lay a solid foundation in that first game, so it is an important one for us," he said. "The USA will test us in many areas, they have some big boys and they play with a lot of heart. That said, we have a plan to beat them which is based on keeping our ball. The heat could also be a factor and benefit to us."

Snyman said the synergy in his squad is good: "We have the same guys that started the final in Cape Town and the inclusion of Ryan Oosthuizen, Ronald Brown and Selvyn Davids will add experience and X factor to that group, so we are keen to go out and represent our country.

"There is always a target on the back of the winner of the previous tournament, and we are well aware of that. We prepared well and are as ready as can be."

Brown, who missed the Dubai and Cape Town tournaments due to a muscle strain, said he is keen to get back and mix it up with his team mates. The fleet-footed backline player injured his shoulder in last year's Perth event and would like to leave Australia with a better memory than a year ago.

"Injuries are part of the game, so one learns to cope with it," said Brown.

"Also, the rehab part of it might be hard, but having the support of everyone in the squad while doing it, makes that a lot easier. Coach also makes sure everyone stays involved in preparations, injured or not, so it is really a team effort. We are the 13 guys here, but we also play for those left behind in Stellenbosch."

Siviwe Soyizwapi, with 55 world series tournaments to his name the most experienced player in the squad, said they trained well in the week: "We hit the ground running on Monday and had a good training match against Great Britain on Tuesday. We finished our prep with a good captain's run today, we we are good to go."

Blitzboks Pool A fixtures:
Friday, 24 January
v USA, 8:23am
v Australia, 1:52pm
Saturday, 25 January
v Argentina, 7:50am

Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images

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