“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.”
When he wore the green and gold for the Springbok Sevens the first time – on 28 January 2017 in Wellington, New Zealand – Zain Davids was the proudest man alive and on Friday, eight years later, he will again be on cloud nine when he runs out in his 50th HSBC SVNS tournament for the Blitzboks in Perth.
There were smiles for miles around the DHL Stadium after the Springbok Sevens team won the HSBC SVNS Cape Town for the first time since 2015, with the broadest coming from Blitzbok debutant Zander Reynders.
Springbok Sevens head coach Philip Snyman has included 10 players who have tasted glory at the Emirates Dubai 7s in his first squad for the new HSBC SVNS season, which will kick off in the UAE next weekend.
Six months ago, the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris was the last thing on Siviwe Soyizwapi's mind as he was still recovering from a knee injury and the Springbok Sevens were tumbling out of the automatic qualification spots on the HSBC SVNS log.
It was not the result they had hoped for, but the Springbok Sevens will take away valuable lessons from Madrid this weekend after they finished sixth in the HSBC SVNS Grand Finale in Spain.
Philip Snyman captained the Springbok Sevens in a golden era where HSBC SVNS titles and Olympic and Commonwealth Games podium finishes where the order of the day.
Sevens coaches can hardly ask for a more daunting start to their HSBC SVNS career than what is facing Philip Snyman, the Springbok Sevens’ new interim head coach, this weekend, but the 37-year-old will take it in his stride.
Much has been made of the fact that the Springbok Sevens, despite winning 40 HSBC SVNS tournaments on all continents, have not cracked gold at Hong Kong Stadium, and with the iconic tournament moving to a new venue next year, they will have one last shot at breaking that bogey. (more…)
The Springbok Sevens coaching team has been reformatted and a review of the Sevens department’s structure is being undertaken as a response to disappointing results, SA Rugby announced.