It will hopefully be a new dawn, but the Springbok Sevens side faces a tough challenge in the defence of their Dubai 7s title as the new season of the HSBC SVNS Series begins on Saturday in the desert hotspot.
The Blitzboks won last year’s tournament but then went on to record some poor performances, culminating in a coaching change and very nearly missed out on the Olympic qualifying as well, with former captain Philip Snyman stepping in to steady the ship.
Snyman has now been appointed as head coach for the side and will lead them into battle in a tough group that includes Olympic champions France and difficult assignments against Australia and Kenya if they are to make the quarterfinals of the competition.
With Ricky Duarte back from his own stint in the wilderness and playmaker Ronald Brown back in the squad, the team have two experienced captains in Zain Davids and Impi Visser, both of whom are long-term Blitzbok stars.
The #BlitzBoks are grinding hard ahead of the #dubai7s this weekend 🔥💯#PoweredByUnity pic.twitter.com/N61JMHSaSt
— Springbok Sevens (@Blitzboks) November 28, 2024
Duarte will give a lot more physicality to the team and Brown will fill a void left by the injured Selvyn Davids.
There is a lot of interest in what a player like Donavan Don can do in the playmaker role.
In the end, Snyman wants the core fundamentals to return to the Blitzboks - physicality and speed, a combination that has seen them win the World Series before and will hopefully be their biggest asset this time around.
Dubai is always a tournament that the Blitzboks tend to enjoy and Snyman is hoping to capitalise on this.
But it is also a tournament he wants them to excel in, so that they can go into their home tournament in Cape Town next weekend full of confidence.
It’s a long rebuilding road and that starts with Australia on Saturday morning.
But the intensity will need to be there from game one. And Snyman and the team know that all too well.
POOL A FIXTURES: Saturday 30 November (SA times)
8:50am: SA v Australia
12L58pm: SA v Kenya
6:44pm: SA v France
UPDATED SPRINBOKS SEVENS SQUAD FOR DUBAI (with HSBC SVNS stats)
Christie Grobbelaar – 21 tournaments, 160 points (32 tries)
Ryan Oosthuizen – 50 tournaments, 225 points (45 tries)
Impi Visser (co-captain) – 39 tournaments, 205 points (41 tries)
Zain Davids (co-captain) – 47 tournaments, 210 points (42 tries)
Ricardo Duarttee – 12 tournaments, 216 points (15 tries, 69 conversions, 1 penalty goal)
Shaun Williams – 17 tournaments, 157 points (25 tries, 16 conversions)
Dewald Human – 26 tournaments, 289 points (25 tries, 82 conversions)
Siviwe Soyizwapi – 53 tournaments, 780 points (152 tries)
Shilton van Wyk – 20 tournaments, 185 points (37 tries)
Quewin Nortje – 6 tournaments, 90 points (18 tries)
Donovan Don – 3 tournaments, 15 points (3 tries)
David Brits – 3 tournaments, 20 points (4 tries)
Tristan Leyds – 5 tournaments, 69 points (9 tries, 12 conversions)