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The Citizen
06-05-2025
- Sport
- The Citizen
OPINION: Blitzboks still a quality outfit, but they need to be more consistent
Philip Snyman's team again rose to the occasion in a big tournament, winning the World Championship at the weekend. The Blitzboks sing the national anthem ahead of the final against Spain at the World Championship in LA last Sunday. Picture: David van der Sandt/Gallo Images All's well that ends well. That's surely what the Blitzboks players and their coach Philip Snyman must be thinking following their victory in the 'winner-takes-all' grand finale of the Sevens season in Los Angeles at the weekend. The SA Sevens team pulled off a remarkable victory to bag the World Championship title for the 2024/25 season, after experiencing a rather disappointing regular season. They beat Spain in the final in LA on Sunday, after earlier beating New Zealand in the semi-finals. In pool play on Saturday, they beat France, Great Britain and Argentina, all teams who have given the Blitzboks troubles in the last few years. The only other highlight for Snyman and Co over the season was their victory at their home tournament in Cape Town in December. While they were tournament runners-up in Vancouver not too long ago, the other four tournaments they played in ended disappointingly. In the opener in Dubai late last year they finished sixth, in Perth they were third place playoff runners-up, while in Hong Kong and Singapore, the two last tournaments before the Los Angeles 'grand finale' they delivered their worst performances of the season, finishing ninth on each occasion. Lack of consistency That they managed to turn things around so quickly shows just how fast things can change in sport, and especially in the Sevens game. The reality is the Blitzboks team are a quality outfit with very strong players, but things can unravel quickly in a game and in a tournament. And that's what's happened to the SA team in the last few years … they've played excellently in parts, but then been poor in many matches as well. The lack of consistency has hurt them, but as they showed in winning the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics last year, after qualifying through the back door, and now winning in LA, this Blitzboks team should not be written off. They seem to thrive under pressure, when the moment demands a strong performance, and that bodes well for the future. Let's hope this victory will spur them on and they can push hard for the World Cup title next year.
The Citizen
30-04-2025
- Sport
- The Citizen
OPINION: One last chance for Blitzboks to make big statement
The SA Sevens team produced a mixed bag of results throughout the 2024/25 season. The Blitzboks will be gunning for a strong finish to their season in Los Angeles. Picture: David van der Sandt/Gallo Images South African rugby fans will hope for a strong showing by the Blitzboks when the 2024/25 season comes to a close in Los Angeles this weekend with the staging of the 'World Championship'. It has been another up-and-down season for the once mighty Blitzboks who ruled the game for several years some time ago. The SA Sevens team finished fourth on the points table after the six events, with just one tournament win, in Cape Town in their home tournament. In the last two events, in Hong Kong and Singapore, they failed to make the cup quarter-finals and semi-finals and finished ninth in both tournaments. But, the Blitzboks will feature in the grand final in LA this weekend, along with the top eight teams from the series. They're joined in their pool by France, Britain and Argentina. The other pool consists of New Zealand, Fiji, Australia and Spain. It's now best of the best and winner takes all. At full strength for World Championship Philip Snyman's team have beaten all the sides in their pool this season, but there is not much separating the four sides and the Blitzboks will certainly have to be at their best in their three pool matches. The top two teams in each pool advance to the semi-finals. The good news for the South African team is that three big-game players, Quewin Nortje, the team's leading try-scorer this season, and for series winners Ronald Brown and Mfundo Ndhlovu are fit again and will feature in LA. It is an experienced 13-player group who on their day can beat anyone and Snyman and all of South Africa will hope they click this weekend. Another thing going for them is the fact the Blitzboks generally perform well in one-off tournaments, as they showed in Paris last year when they managed to win the bronze medal at the Olympics. So while the Blitzboks didn't produce too many fireworks over the last season, bar for their good showing on home soil and the odd impressive result here and there, they have a chance to finish the campaign on a real high this weekend. Here's hoping for a big final push by the Blitzboks.
