The Blitzboks face a daunting task at the HSBC SVNS Series in Cape Town this weekend after they were handed a brutal draw for the tournament.
Free Spins, Flights, and Bets on Betway
The South African Sevens side were drawn in Pool A alongside New Zealand, who won the opening leg in Dubai on Sunday, Dubai bronze-medallists Fiji and an increasingly confident Great Britain.
Beaten Dubai finalists Australia and fourth-place finishers France, as well as Spain and Argentina, who will both be out to show their respective sixth and eighth-placings in the opening round, make up Pool B.
The Cape Town Sevens will take place on 6 and 7 December at the Cape Town Stadium.
The Blitzboks are the defending Cape Town Sevens winners having beaten France in last year’s final.
The fixtures for the tournament will be announced in due course, while the Blitzboks squad will be confirmed on Thursday.
The Springboks Women’s Sevens team will not be in action in Cape Town.
How did the Blitzboks do in Dubai?
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Springbok Sevens head coach Philip Snyman after the Blitzboks’ fifth-place finish at the Dubai Sevens on Sunday, but he admitted that they did not perform to their own expectations.
After dropping out of the title race on Saturday, the Blitzboks outplayed Great Britain 34-0 and Spain 21-12 for a strong finish on Sunday at The Sevens and Snyman said that there were some positives from the HSBC SVNS opener, despite their disappointing opening day.
South Africa opened their Pool A campaign on Saturday with a win over France, but then lost to Fiji and Argentina, missing out on the semi-finals.
“We used our opportunities much better today (Sunday) compared to yesterday (Saturday) and that delivered a better result,” said Snyman.
“I am happy with our response today, but yesterday was not our best day. The good start against France was quickly forgotten when Fiji outplayed us on attack, defence and physically, and we did not use our chances against Argentina.
“Today’s performance at least shows that we did apply the work-ons from yesterday. The format is really tough, make no mistake, and teams can even win two of three pool games and still not make it into the semi-finals, but that was not our excuse. We were just not goo enough on the weekend.”
Tickets for the HSBC SVNS Cape Town are still available from Ticketmaster by CLICKING HERE
