Philip Snyman declares Blitzboks ‘ready’ for Paris Olympics

Blitzboks coach Philip Snyman has declared his team “ready” ahead of the start on Wednesday of the Sevens tournament at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The SA Sevens team, who will fancy their chances of bagging a medal despite having a poor season behind them, are in a tough pool with Ireland, New Zealand and Japan. They’re first in action against the Irish at 5.30pm Wednesday, followed by their second pool match, against New Zealand at 9.30pm.

Their third and final pool match is on Thursday at 4pm against Japan.

“We are ready,” said Snyman on Tuesday.

“We had a good week of preparation since we arrived here (in Paris), which included a good training session against Uruguay two days ago. That helped us a lot, as a match is always better than just training as a squad.

“We saw different pictures on attack and defence and had to adapt accordingly. It was a well worth exercise and sharpened us up nicely for the matches against Ireland and New Zealand.”

Defence will be crucial

While Snyman conceded bagging a medal would be nice, and it remains the ultimate goal, the team was not preparing any differently because it is the Olympics.

“It will just be another opportunity to represent our country and to deliver our best effort for the jersey,” said Snyman. “Yes, the reward might be different, but the game remains the same and that is where our focus will be tomorrow (Wednesday).”

The Blitzboks also know what to expect from Ireland and New Zealand. “Both of them are the same in style and approach. They are bigger than us and more physical and will attack our breakdown in order to slow us down. We have real magic and speed on the outside and teams will try and prevent us to use that.”

Snyman said their defensive effort will be crucial if they want to start on a positive note.

“Ireland is our main focus for now, we want to start well and lay a foundation for the rest of the tournament,” said Snyman.

“We need to make our tackles and put pressure on their attackers. They are a dangerous side when they have momentum, so we need to stop them for getting going.”

Snyman is confident about the attacking ability of his side and feels that they could be more rugby fit than the other teams, since they played in a competitive tournament recently.

“We are the only team to play in the repechage in Monaco and had no break at the end of the world series in Madrid (at the beginning of June), so we are rugby fit and will be ready to go. That could just give us an edge on the other sides, who have not played tournament sevens as recently as we did,” added Snyman.

Blitzboks’ pool schedule

Wednesday 24 July
5.30pm: Ireland
9.30pm: New Zealand

Thursday 25 July
4pm: Japan