Their overall objectives for the 2025 HSBC SVNS are still in place and despite their second-placed finish in Vancouver, Springbok Sevens coach Philip Snyman left BC Place in a good mood.
The Blitzboks fell short of winning the Vancouver title, losing 19-12 to Argentina in the final, but Snyman said it the wider picture is still rosy with most of their objectives reached on this trip to Canada.
“Make no mistake, it is never nice to lose in a final – you go all the way to put yourself in a position to win the tournament and to then come up short is not part of the plan,” said Snyman.
“But credit to Argentina, who were the better team in that game. They were more clinical than us, especially in that first half, and scored the points when it mattered. We came back well, but just could not get the win.”
For Snyman, a top-four finish in every tournament and expanding his playing depth were stated objectives at the start of the season and those are still firmly in place at the halfway stage of the series.
“We want to reach at least the semi-finals of every tournament and we are at three out of four there, while Sebastiaan Jobb and Zander Reynders got good game time during the tournament, which is great,” he said.
“From that perspective, I am more than pleased. The mistakes we made can be fixed and we can tweak one of two things, so we are in a good spot at the moment. ”
Jobb was unfortunately red-carded in the semi-final against Fiji, forcing the Blitzboks to play with six men for 10 minutes, but his team’s response made Snyman proud.
“Playing Fiji with seven is already tough enough, so to have only six on the field and coming from behind on the scoreboard to win made me very proud,” said Snyman of the victory, which came from the last play of the match.
“The guys showed what the jersey meant to them by never giving up in that match and working extra hard to compensate for the missing defender. That performance is one I will remember for a long time.”
With the Blitzboks firmly established as a title contender with two rounds left, Snyman has a couple of weeks to prepare his troops for the back-to-back tournaments in Hong Kong (28-30 March) and Singapore (5-6 April). The final stop is the Grand Finale in Los Angeles (3-4 May).
“We are still in with a realistic chance to win the series and that is great, but we will still continue with expanding our player depth at those two tournaments,” said Snyman.
“Once back home, the management will discuss our roster for that trip and how we are going to approach it. For now, we are in a good position and mindset. Yes, we lost the final, but we gained in many other areas.”
The Blitzboks arrive back in Cape Town on Wednesday morning.