Blitzbok champs now target No 1 spot

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The Blitzboks, after winning their home tournament for the first time since 2015, have set their sights on the World Rugby Sevens summit.

South Africa beat France by 26-14 in the final of the Cape Town Sevens on Sunday, and are now fourth on the overall standings after two legs of the 2024-25 season.

The Blitzboks will be out of action until next year when they travel to Australia for the Perth Sevens on 24 January.

“I think you can see the guys are [already] celebrating. We really wanted this,” co-captain Zain Davids said. “The guys showed a lot of heart out there – we played for each other.”

Fellow skipper Impi Visser added: “It’s just incredible. It’s been nine years since we last won it so it’s great to break the curse and give the people of Cape Town something to really celebrate.

“We knew that we have a special group of players, but we came up a bit short last week in Dubai. Some new guys came in and really stepped up this week.

“We’re building something really special and once we have that self-belief we can really go to that No 1 spot.”

It was a special evening for head coach Philip Snyman, who was part of the Blitzbok squad that won the inaugural Cape Town tournament in 2015, but he gave all the plaudits to the players, who delivered four great performances over the weekend.

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“It’s really great to see the players enjoy this win,” said Snyman. “They are the real heroes of this weekend and they played for every member of our squad who could not be on the field tonight.

“We are very happy with the win, especially since everyone in the squad worked extremely hard, and I’m very proud of how they played.”

Snyman said the Blitzboks identified two areas in their play they had to improve on since last weekend’s tournament in Dubai.

“We wanted to apply more pressure on defence and then play from turnover ball, and make sure we get the ball to our playmakers on the outside as soon as possible,” he said.

“We were very clinical and only conceded two tries on the first day and we clicked into a higher gear on day two. Slow starts in the semi-final and the final made things a bit difficult, but the guys showed a lot of character to come back and win those games.

“The players executed our plans to perfection this weekend and in doing so, they showed what we are capable of. They really played very well.”

The Blitzbok head coach said the entire squad worked very hard in the last few months and the victory in Cape Town was just reward for the hours and hours spent on the training pitch.

“This goes to every South African who kept on supporting us – we have the best supporters in the world and hopefully this will be the start of big things for the Blitzboks,” he added.

Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images

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