Blitzboks coach Philip Snyman after perfect start: Still a work in progress

Blitzboks captain Philip Snyman during a press conference after arriving back in Cape Town

File. The Blitzboks made a perfect start to their campaign, after they dispatched Ireland 22-17 in their first match before running 24-10 victors over Spain in their final clash of the day. Seen here: Blitzboks interim coach Philip Snyman during a press conference. Picture: Henk Kruger/Independent Media

Published Apr 5, 2024

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Following their two opening wins in the Hong Kong Sevens on Friday, Blitzboks interim coach Philip Snyman showered praise on his troops as they prepare for day two of the competition.

The Blitzboks made a perfect start to their campaign, after they dispatched Ireland 22-17 in their first match before running 24-10 victors over Spain in their final clash of the day.

The two results meant South Africa have already qualified for the quarter-finals with one group match remaining on Saturday.

Their final group match against Samoa, however, would provide the chance to iron out any weaknesses in their game said Snyman.

‘We want to top our pool’

“We’ll go back tonight and look at a lot of the mistakes we made. There’s still some errors we can work on and try to fix as quickly as possible before tomorrow when we play Samoa,” said Snyman.

“[It’s] Definitely still a work in progress, we don’t focus on where we’re going to end. We want to top our pool, so two from two is great from the first day.”

As for the results on day one, Snyman was more than pleased with his charges.

“I’m very happy with the result. We wanted to go out and start strong against Ireland as they’re a quality team. The guys really came out firing, especially in that first half, in the second half we lost some control with one or two errors, like with the red card. Overall, the guys stuck to it and fought up to the end to pull off the win.

“Against Spain, it was exactly the same when we struggled to get the ball. We always knew with ball in hand, we’re going to punish teams. We took control the moment we got our hands on the ball. Our playmakers hurt them on the outside. I’m very happy as a coach, as the guys really played for each other and that Springbok Sevens jersey.”