The challenging pool draw for the HSBC SVNS Perth at the end of the month completed the circle of motivation for the Springbok Sevens squad, who returned to their base in Stellenbosch last week already.
That is according to Blitzbok head coach Philip Snyman, after the pool draw for the Australian leg of the world series was confirmed on Thursday. South Africa were drawn with current series champions, Argentina, hosts Australia and a resurgent USA side for the event, to be played at HBF Park from 24-26 January.
Olympic champions France are in Pool B alongside Spain, Great Britain and Ireland in an all European affair, while Fiji and New Zealand will go into battle in Pool C along with newly promoted Kenya and Uruguay.
"We came back into camp on 2 January with a clear understanding that we are building again,” said Snyman.
“The Cape Town win, as awesome as it was for us in front of our home crowd, is in the past, the holidays are done, but not so the hard work for the rest of the year, including Perth.
“Seeing the pool today was a final confirmation that the challenge will be real, but also the knowledge that we are already a week in towards the next goal, to do well in Perth.”
The Blitzbok coach said playing in front of a home crowd remains a special feeling and that the Aussies will have that advantage in Perth, while the Blitzboks edged Argentina in their previous encounter in Cape Town.
"The USA remains a really tough team, wherever you play them, so the pool is certainly a tough one,” he said.
Snyman indicated that he will continue with blooding new players as he is rebuilding his squad towards the next Olympics, while some niggles are impacting the preparations of players such as Tristan Leyds, who was a stand-out in Cape Town.
"It was nice to have the likes of Ryan Oosthuizen, Selvyn Davids and Ronald Brown back at training though after they all missed Cape Town due to injury as they are all experienced players and will widen my options for selecting a side to Perth. The fact that we know what is waiting on that side will also help," Snyman said.
The Blitzboks will depart for Perth on 19 January.