The Springbok Sevens squad arrived in Vancouver from Cape Town on Monday evening after a long haul, which included a transit in Amsterdam, but the smile Sebastiaan Jobb entered Canada with was as fresh as the brightest Namaqualand daisy.
It is the 26-year-old Northern Cape-born and raised speedster’s second visit to Vancouver. He also played at BC Place last year, albeit with mixed outcomes. The Blitzboks were edged by Argentina in the final, but Jobb was forced to look on from the sidelines, as he was red-carded in the semi-final match against Fiji.
Jobb was smiling as he had another chance to give his all for his country with his beloved Blitzboks. The fact that he had an excellent tournament in Perth in the previous round of the HSBC SVNS Series also added a spring in his step.
The Blitzboks arrived with a squad that showed six changes from the side that won in Perth, but as Jobb explains, their motto of competitive excellence in the squad guaranteed a strong group for this weekend’s tournament.
“I have to give coach Philip (Snyman) a lot of credit for achieving that,” said Jobb.
“It is one of our main objectives as a group to really work hard and push each other in training sessions in order to achieve that competitive excellence.
“We may have changed a lot of players, but the standard certainly did not drop as Coach managed to get a group together that is very competitive, not only in Stellenbosch during training, but on the circuit as well.
“We have good depth, and the guys are really pushing each other to become the best versions of themselves.”
For Jobb, who played for the Junior Springboks before making his Blitzbok debut in 2023 in Hong Kong, this weekend will be all about execution and getting things right as a squad.
“We got a lot of experience back into the squad, so I don't see a problem in us executing this weekend – we want to go out and play, and that is very exciting,” he said.
“I am really pleased for Grant de Jager, who will make his debut on this trip. I have played with him for the SA Sevens ‘A’-side at the Rugby Africa Sevens in Mauritius last year, and he impressed me with his ability and work rate, so I think we will see more of that this weekend.”
Blitzbok pool schedule (SA times, live on SuperSport):
Saturday 7 March:
22:03: Great Britain
Sunday 8 March:
01:51: Spain
05:40: New Zealand