Cape Town - Everything came together for the Blitzboks in their final pool game against Australia, and captain Philip Snyman wants more of the same in their Cape Town Sevens quarter-final against Wales on Sunday.
The Springbok Sevens were unbeaten on Saturday, beating Russia (41-0), USA (28-10) and Australia (29-7), but it wasn’t a smooth ride all of the way.
While they knocked over Russia easily enough, the Americans added a steely defensive effort to their attacking prowess, and they made life tough for the South Africans. It was a similar story against the Aussies, but Neil Powell’s found their rhythm and ran in five tries to top Pool A.
“We got nicely out of the blocks in that first game, but then in the second game we made it a bit loose and we gave some of the ball possession away to the Americans. They’re a very dangerous side, but we managed to pull it back and got a good win,” Snyman told Independent Media.
“I thought the guys played some fantastic rugby against Australia, and hats off to all of them. Australiawere chasing the game as they needed a big win. But the guys stuck to what we discussed beforehand. So, hats off to all the guys and the management. It was a good game plan from their side, and I think it is paying off at the moment.”
But a knockout game can be tricky to negotiate, and the pressure of playing in their home tournament at Cape Town Stadium adds to their challenge. They recovered from a pool-stage defeat to Kenya last year to win the title, and Snyman hopes that they make a strong start against Wales (12.04pm kickoff).
“Wales are always tough opponents, and anything can happen in quarter-finals. We’ve seen big teams being knocked out at this stage before, although you can’t really say that there are small teams these days in sevens rugby,” he said.
“We need to put Saturday behind us, get going in the warm-up and get into our stride. We have the ability and the players to be successful this weekend. We must just do it on the field, and then nothing can stand in our way.”
Cup Quarter-Finals
12.04pm: Blitzboks vs Wales
12.26pm: New Zealand vs Kenya
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