The Springboks Sevens team is hoping for a better performance at the HSBC Hong Kong Sevens which kicks off on Friday.
This after the dismal performance by the team at the tournaments in Vancouver, Cape Town, and Los Angeles.
The below par performance resulted in the departure of Head coach Sandile Ngcobo, who returned to the role of coach to the next generation of sevens players, while Philip Snyman took over as head coach of the Blitzboks until the end of July.
Blitzboks captain Selvyn Davids said much hasn’t changed since the appointment of Snyman and that there’s been a smooth transition.
“Coach Philip has been in our system, so there weren’t too many changes.
We know him and we know what he expects of us.
For us as players, the most important thing was to stay focused on what we had to do, and what was asked of us to do by the coach.
Our focus hasn’t really changed,” said Davids.
Davids added that the team is aware about the task ahead and not to repeat the mistakes of the previous tournaments but will however not be afraid to try new things and express themselves.
“It makes it much easier for us, because if you are comfortable in what you do, it’s easier to go out onto the field and express yourself.
If you are scared of making mistakes, that is when errors will creep into your game, so to give us the opportunity to be the best version of ourselves on the field, puts us in a much better space and mindset,” explained the captain.
The Blitzboks, who had finished in the top two in 12 of the previous seasons, are currently seventh on the standings after finishing ninth and 11th in the last two events in Vancouver and Los Angeles, respectively.
If the team fails to finish in the top eight of the standings, it will be required to play in a promotion and relegation series.
The Blitzboks will face Ireland, currently second on the standings behind Argentina, five spots ahead of South Africa, and Spain in their first two pool matches on Friday and will wrap up their pool fixtures on Saturday against Samoa.
