It’s the one title on the Sevens World Series that has eluded the Springbok Sevens team, despite reaching the Cup final on four occasions. The last time was in 2017, when they were beaten 22-0 by the 19-time champions, Fiji.

South Africa find itself in another tough group for the tournament in the Far East. They will face Uruguay and Australia on Day 1 in Pool B, before taking on New Zealand on Saturday morning.

Blitzboks coach Philip Snyman, who celebrated his 38th birthday on Wednesday, acknowledged the challenge of their pool but said the team draws confidence from their recent performances against New Zealand and Australia in Canada, while they also know Uruguay from a warm-up match.

“We played both Australia and New Zealand in Vancouver and actually had a training match with Uruguay before the tournament, so the teams know each other well,” said Snyman.

Reaching the semi-finals

“What we’re looking for in Hong Kong is work ethic, clinical execution, and a never-say-die attitude on defence. If we manage that, we’ll come close to our goal of reaching the semi-finals again.”

The former Cheetahs winger and Blitzboks captain added that after their successful outing at the Vancouver Sevens, where they lost in the final to Argentina, they identified a few key areas for improvement and are confident in their ability to execute them in Hong Kong.

Dewald Human. Photo: Blitzboks/X

“We pinpointed one or two work-ons, especially around the breakdown on attack,” Snyman said. “We need to be quicker, get the ball away from the breakdown faster, and increase our speed at the breakdown. We’ve also been focusing on our kick-off receives.

“We’ve been working hard on those areas, and I think the guys are in a good space—we’re ready for Hong Kong.”

The Blitzboks will kick off their campaign in the Pearl of the Orient on Friday morning at 11:56 against Uruguay.

Hong Kong 7s squad - Ryan Oosthuizen, Impi Visser (co-captain), Zain Davids, Ricardo Duarttee, Selvyn Davids (co-captain), Dewald Human,  Siviwe Soyizwapi, Shilton van Wyk, Quewin Nortje, Donavan Don, Gino Cupido, Zander Reynders, Tristan Leyds

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek cg