Blitzboks prepare for the big Cup
PRETORIA: The trials and tribulations that the Blitzboks have endured during their back-to-back World Series triumphs could just be the ace up their sleeves ahead of the Sevens Rugby World Cup next month.
Having shocked the world and themselves by clinching the World Series in dramatic style at the last tournament in Paris to successfully defend their world crown, Springbok Sevens captain Philip Snyman believes that the hardships of the season place them in a better position than most teams as title contenders for the Melrose Cup in San Francisco next month.
After seeing many of their experienced stars suffer season-ending injuries, losing their Commonwealth Games title and only winning two tournaments during the season, Snyman thinks they have now mastered the art of thriving in adversity and still being able to be successful.
While Fiji have nobody besides themselves to blame for gifting the South Africans the World Series, the Blitzboks also made it difficult for themselves as they lost their pool match against Scotland, won at the death against Russia and were pushed to extra time by Spain in the quarter-finals before marching with authority to the tournament win.
“There are many lessons we have learnt throughout the season and especially things that have happened in the past. That citing of Kyle (Brown) in the previous World Cup, our discipline is going to be vital in the short tournament and the format is also different. It is knockout stages from the get-go and basically we start off with the quarter-finals. So we will need to be up for it and there are no easy games. It showed for us in the last tournament against Spain, Russia and Scotland that any team can beat any other team on any given day,” said Snyman.
The Blitzboks have previously struggled to assert their authority and dominance in once-off tournaments like the World Cup, Commonwealth Games and the Olympics, but Snyman feels that the mental toughness and resilience they showed in becoming series champions could be the secret to them winning their maiden Melrose Cup.
With the World Cup format altered to take the shape of a knockout tournament from the beginning, the Blitzboks cannot afford to stumble from the start (a tricky match against the winner of the Ireland-Chile clash).
“Ireland showed in the last two tournaments that they can beat any team ... they managed to beat England and Australia. Day one, game one we need to go out guns blazing and be ready for that,” Snyman said.
The Blitzboks received a massive boost in the camp with stars Chris Dry and Rosko Specman forming part of the 16-man squad which will later be trimmed down to 12 for the World Cup and Snyman says the duo bring a lot of energy to the camp.