Snyman satisfied with silver

Coach Philip Snyman is on a depth-building mission this season and the Blitzboks finishing second at the Vancouver Sevens ticked the box.

South Africa fell short of winning the Canada leg of the series, losing 19-12 to Argentina in the decider, but Snyman saw encouraging signs of growth as he continues to build the Blitzboks into consistent contenders.

READ: Blitzboks fall at final hurdle in Vancouver

“Make no mistake, it is never nice to lose in a final – you go all the way to put yourself in a position to win the tournament and to then come up short is not part of the plan,” said Snyman. “Credit to Argentina, who were the better team in that game. They were more clinical than us, especially in that first half, and scored the points when it mattered. We came back well, but just could not get the win.”

For Snyman, a top-four finish in every tournament and expanding his playing depth were stated objectives at the start of the season and those are still firmly in place at the halfway stage of the series.

“We want to reach at least the semi-finals of every tournament and we are at three out of four there, while Sebastiaan Jobb and Zander Reynders got good game time during the tournament, which is great,” he said. “From that perspective I am more than pleased. The mistakes we made can be fixed and we can tweak one of two things, so we are in a good spot at the moment.”

Jobb was red-carded in the semi-final against Fiji, forcing the Blitzboks to play with six men for 10 minutes, but his team’s response made Snyman proud.

“Playing Fiji with seven is already tough enough, so to have only six on the field and coming from behind on the scoreboard to win made me very proud,” said Snyman of the victory, which came from the last play of the match.

“The guys showed what the jersey meant to them by never giving up in that match and working extra hard to compensate for the missing defender. That performance is one I will remember for a long time.”

With the Blitzboks firmly established as a title contender with two rounds to go, Snyman has a couple of weeks to prepare his troops for back-to-back tournaments in Hong Kong (28-30 March) and Singapore (5-6 April). The final stop is the Grand Finale in Los Angeles (3-4 May).

“We are still in with a realistic chance to win the series,” said Snyman. “But we will continue with expanding our player depth at those two tournaments.”

Photo: David Van Der Sandt/Gallo Images