THREE’S A CHARM
title as well as the gold they won at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, then also to be successful at the Sevens World Cup.
And no one will be more keen to win World Cup gold than Snyman himself. If you look at the threetime winner of the World Series’ rugby resume, there’s probably no better person to lead Powell’s team in what will be a straight knockout competition.
The 31-year-old Sevens man is the only Blitzbok with World Cup experience (the others who have played in the spectacle before are injured).
In fact, it will be Snyman’s third World Cup event, and he will also become the first Blitzbok to play in three World Cups, so there’s no doubt that he’ll be looking to make it a case of “third time lucky”.
Snyman represented the South Africa at the 2009 World Cup in (back, from left): Dubai and again in 2013 in Russia, and on both occasions they were knocked out in the Cupquarter-finals.
And after spending some time in Johannesburg and Mossel Bay preparing for the event,Snyman said that they are now looking forward to putting in a final week of preparations in San Francisco after arriving in the northern-California city on Sunday afternoon.
“I think the last couple of weeks have been interesting after winning the World Series, coming back and getting all the support from the fans, friends and family back home. Then it was time to shift the focus to the preparation again.
“We trained in Joburg and Mossel Bay and now it’s time to go over and do the final prep in San Francisco,” Snyman said.
“We have high expectations,I believe we can go all the way. But THE SA STUDENT Sevens Men’s team won the FISU World University Rugby Sevens Championships in Swakopmund this weekend, beating the defending champions, Australia, twice in the process.
Three capped Blitzboks, the captain Rhyno Smith, James Murphy and WJ Strydom, were part of the side and their experience counted in the Namibian desert. The SA team started the tournament with a massive 66-0 victory in their pool opener against we need to get our mindset right. We need to fire from the get-go and get a perfect start. It’s knock-out rounds so we need to be up for it right from the start, and that’s exactly our approach to this.
“We can’t focus on anybody else, we just need to go out there, do what we can and enjoy ourselves on the pitch.”
The fact that the Blitzboks had a few close calls in Paris before eventually winning the final in dramatic fashion should, in a weird way perhaps have equipped the Blitzboks for the high-pressure situation they will be in right from the start in San Francisco – but then again what is sport if not sometimes unpredictable.
They will play their first match of the World Cup on Friday night (6.15am SA time on Saturday morning) against either Ireland or Chile (12.35am SA time on Sat- China, after which they beat Australia by 26-14, setting up a quarter-final clash against Malaysia. Smith and his team dispatched the Malaysians 54-0 and then met France in the semi-final, a match in which the South Africans had to dig deep to win by 14-12.
The final was against Australia and the scoreline was similar as it was in their pool match, with the SA Students coming out on top by 24-14 this time to claim the silverware.
Meanwhile, the SA Student Sevens Women’s team finished fourth after they lost in the bronze medal match to Belgium (17-0). The draw had to urday morning), and if they lose, they are immediately out of contention.
But if there is anything the Blitzboks have showed this year, especially in the World Sevens Series, it’s that they can soak up pressure. And, as Snyman said, they will have to do it from the get-go on Saturday morning.
Imagine if the Blitzboks win the World Cup. Not only will it be their first one ever, but it will come after winning back-to-back World Series titles.
What an achievement that would be.
Given their injury situation, it could be tough. But like Snyman said, they have high expectations, and so do all their fans.
So, if the Blitzboks manage to get that perfect start, we just might see history being made. And it would surely be deserved. be amended as a number of teams withdrew, which meant that all the sides played each other at least once.
In the build-up to the knockout phase though the South African Women beat Brazil (27-0), lost to eventual champions France (43-0), beat Australia (17-12) and drew with Belgium (12-12). Unfortunately they could not repeat their victory over Australia in the semifinal and were beaten 21-12, setting up the third-place play-off against Belgium.
The event was the first International University Sports Federation rugby sevens competition to be hosted in Africa.