Cape Town - One would think that changing your captain with just two tournaments left in the season would be odd. But Philip Snyman feels that taking over the Springbok Sevens reins from Kyle Brown won’t be a problem heading into the Paris Sevens this weekend.
But you don’t want to get to the Rio Olympics and not be prepared for any eventuality, so giving Snyman another chance to skipper the Blitzboks makes some sense in case Brown is injured.
Snyman himself is back from a head knock that saw him miss the last World Series tournament in Singapore last month, where the Blitzboks ended third.
Brown has also been out of action this season, sitting out the Wellington and Sydney tournaments due to a shoulder problem, while he had to remain behind in Vancouver following a chest issue.
“I’m really glad to be back in the squad, and taking over the role of captaincy from Kyle. Luckily we have a good understanding between the two of us, and we like working together. So, it’s a nice challenge ahead of us and we are looking forward to it,” Snyman said.
But the World Series is still up for grabs, with the Blitzboks eight points behind leaders Fiji. They kick off their Paris campaign against England on Friday (8.28pm SA time) at the Stade Jean Bouin, followed on Saturday by Brazil (11.58am) and Australia (3.31pm). The finals will be played on Sunday.
So Snyman urged his team not to think about the Olympics just yet. “One of our main focuses is to not focus on the Olympics. It has been one of our main talking points over the last few days. There are still two hurdles to climb - first of all Paris, and that’s the main focus at the moment. We are not looking at the Olympics or even the London Sevens next week,” he said.
Speaking to the World Rugby website following the traditional captains’ trophy photo shoot on Wednesday - which took place in front of the Eiffel Tower - Snyman added: “It is a great place to be (Paris), and looking ahead to the weekend, we just need to make sure we stick to the basics and our processes.
“We know Fiji are in front, but we will try our best. We have some short-term and long-term goals, but for now we are focused on England, and if we do well, who knows, maybe we can catch them.
“We have worked on a few things after Singapore, but we want to focus on the positives and if we do that the results will look after themselves.”
The Blitzboks had a new arrival in the French capital on Wednesday, with Stephan Dippenaar jetting in to replace Justin Geduld, who picked up a hamstring niggle in practice on Tuesday, with coach Neil Powell feeling that it was not necessary to risk such a key figure in the squad ahead of the Olympics.