JOHANNESBURG – Springbok Sevens skipper Philip Snyman is confident his team will be a better oiled machine when they go into this weekend’s fourth round of the World Rugby Sevens Series in Sydney.
The BlitzBoks failed to maintain the high standards they set themselves when they finished fourth at the Hamilton, New Zealand tournament last weekend, but Snyman believes plenty of introspection and hard work in the last few days will stand the team in good stead this weekend.
“Each and every player in the team had a look at themselves and realised that it was not our best effort last weekend, especially on defence,” Snyman said yesterday. “Personally, I thought it was one of our worst performances in a while.”
Statistics back up what Snyman said on the defensive problems in Hamilton, with South Africa in the bottom third for completed tackles with a mere 62 percent successful hits.
Snyman said he was confident his team would hit back hard this weekend. The BlitzBoks are in a tough pool alongside hosts Australia, Argentina and Tonga.
Philip Snyman in action at the Cape Town 7s in December. Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix
“We are a young team and lessons have been learned,” said Snyman. “We had a look at the videos of our matches (from last week) and it was not pretty viewing at times.
“We had a solid defence session earlier on Wednesday and it felt good, so clearly the guys adapted from what we missed out on last weekend.”
But he added that a big test awaited his men. “Yes, it is a very tough pool, so we need to be sharp from the first minute to the last,” said the veteran skipper.
“The Tongans are very physical and the Argentinians never stop playing. Australia are not only hosting the tournament but they are also defending champions. We need to play at our best.”