Snyman vows Blitzboks will be back on track
AFTER a few days of rest and recovery and getting over the disappointment of finishing fourth in Las Vegas last weekend, the Blitzboks have switched on again as they look forward to this week’s next event on the World Sevens Series circuit in Vancouver.
Neil Powell’s injury-ravaged team were well and truly out-classed in Las Vegas a week ago, but they get another chance to shine this weekend – at a venue where they have been runners-up the last two years.
“Overall we have done well in North America,” said captain Phillip Snyman yesterday as the team got down to business after a few quieter days in British Colombia. While the team still trained, they also managed to take in some local sports culture by attending an ice-hockey match, among other things.
“We had to get our bodies moving again after the tough tournament in Las Vegas,” said Snyman, one of the few seniors left in the squad. “We’ve worked on a few things that went astray over there and I think we’re back on track again.” Snyman
added he was confident the Blitzboks – still series leaders by 10 points from second-placed New Zealand – would bounce back this week and be the competitive force of old. They’re in Pool D alongside old enemy New Zealand, Russia and Scotland.
“If we play to our standards we will be competitive. We are looking for consistency again as that is one of the reasons why we are still leading the series. There have been five different winners in five tournaments this season and we would love nothing more than to change that. We want to win again... Dubai was a long time ago,” he said.
With several new players in the squad because of injuries to the veterans, a major challenge again awaits the South Africans. But Snyman sees it as a positive for the future.
“These youngsters have actually trained with us over a long period. But that still puts extra pressure on the seniors to provide some spark, but it is up to us to put the new guys at ease and make them aware of what we want to achieve on the field,” Snyman said.
“The positive is that the new guys bring a fresh energy into the squad and that is something that helps the senior players, too.”
Some of the newer players who’ll be in action this week include Marco Labuschagne, Ryan Oosthuizen, Zain Davids, Selvyn Davids, Stedman Gans and Muller du Plessis. The Vancouver tournament gets under way tomorrow night. – Jacques van der Westhuyzen FRANCE flyhalf Francois Trinh-Duc was handed his first start in this year’s Six Nations when he was named in the team to face England in Paris tomorrow.
The Toulon player replaces Lionel Beauxis, who drops to the bench after disappointing against Scotland and Italy, in the only change made by head coach Jacques Brunel yesterday from the team that beat Italy 34-17 in the last round of matches.
Les Bleus, who ended an eightmatch winless streak against Italy, are fifth on the standings on six points, three behind second-placed England. Unbeaten Ireland lead on 14 points.
“We hope that Trinh-Duc will give us this little extra to finish off our moves,” Brunel told a news conference.
“He also has a bit more experience with France than Beauxis, who played two interesting games but lacked something at the end of our attacks.”
After saying last month that France should be aiming to win the Six Nations, Brunel is now looking for an improvement from his side against England.
“England must beat us to win the tournament,” he said after tomorrow’s opponents were beaten by Scotland in the previous round of matches. “We were close against Ireland, we have to be close against England, too. It is our goal for Saturday.
“Playing against England is always something different.” – Reuters