Snyman bemoans lack of consistency as Blitzboks finish ninth in Hong Kong

South Africa’s Blitzboks have slipped to fourth on the series standings following their ninth place finish at the Hong Kong Sevens tournament at the weekend.

The SA Sevens team managed to pick up only four log points after failing to make it into the Cup quarter-finals. It was their worst showing of the series after collecting 10 points in Dubai, 20 in Cape Town (as tournament winners), 14 in Perth and 18 in Vancouver.

Argentina, who have won the last three tournaments, lead the way with 88 points, with just the Singapore tournament to come this weekend, followed by the Grand Final in Madrid.

In pool play in Hong Kong, the Blitzboks beat Uruguay, but lost to Australia and New Zealand as the team then had to settle for contesting the minor placings at the event. In the ninth place semi-final, Philip Snyman’s team beat Uruguay for second time before they edged Kenya 19-17 to take ninth place.

It was only thanks to a late try by Siviwe Soyizwapi and a conversion by Dewald Human that saved the Blitzboks of greater disappointment.

The Blitzboks have never won the Hong Kong tournament, viewed as the home of Sevens rugby.

Inconsistency

Snyman said he accepted blame for the poor showing.

“I have to take this one on the chin, as that was not our standard and ultimately, it is my job to make sure the guys are up for it and that consistency becomes a norm for the team,” he said.

“That consistency should be for every game and every tournament and not a select few as it happened here. The fact that it did not happen must be laid on my doorstep.”

Snyman added: “We have to be more consistent than this. Against Australia, we had the benefit of a yellow card in the opening minute but did not use it, while against New Zealand, we were in their red zone early only to give away possession.

“Against New Zealand, we lost possession eight times and conceded six penalties, and you just cannot play rugby like that. We were poor at the breakdown and need to fix that with Singapore looming.”

Sunday morning’s victory over Kenya was a carbon copy of what happened earlier in pool play, according to Snyman: “We started so well and did everything we wanted, executed well and had a deserved lead. Then we lost concentration, made some errors and allowed them back into the game and in the end, we had to regroup in order to win the match.”

Singapore

The Blitzboks will now turn their attention to this weekend’s tournament in Singapore.

“We want to put the memory of this tournament behind us, but it will not just be swept under the carpet,” said Snyman. “We will do serious reflection, and I will spend enough time to go through everything with the players and where we fell short as a squad.”

Standings:

1 Argentina – 88 points
2 Fiji – 76
3 Spain – 74
4 South Africa – 66
5 France – 64
6 Australia – 54
7 New Zealand – 50
8 Great Britain – 38