Blitzboks to face Ireland and New Zealand ahead of Olympic Games 2024
The Blitzboks were the last team to qualify for the Games and only secured their spot last month. Coach Phillip Snyman thinks this will be advantageous because his players have remained in tournament mode.
South Africa’s Springbok Sevens coach Phillip Snyman. Picture: Supplied/springboks.rugby
JOHANNESBURG - The official opening of the Olympic Games is only on Friday, but the first of the athletes to compete in Paris will be in action in the men’s football and rugby sevens events.
South Africa’s Springbok Sevens team has a big day ahead of it as they take on Ireland and New Zealand in their first two pool games on Wednesday.
Both teams performed better than the Blitzboks in the most recent SVNS Series season where the Irish finished in 2nd with four top three finishes while the New Zealanders were in 3rd with two tournament wins to the one achieved by SA that saw them finish 7th overall.
The Blitzboks were the last team to qualify for the Games and only secured their spot last month. Coach Phillip Snyman thinks this will be advantageous because his players have remained in tournament mode.
“We are the only team to play in the repechage in Monaco and had no break at the end of the world series in Madrid (at the beginning of June), so we are rugby fit and will be ready to go. That could just give us an edge on the other sides, who have not played tournament sevens as recently as we did,” Snyman said.
Snyman isn’t look far ahead of their opening match against Ireland and reckons they have the attacking prowess and pace to get the better of their opponents. However, he added, they must do the basics well first and make sure they retain the ball.
“They are bigger than us and more physical and will attack our breakdown in order to slow us down. We have real magic and speed on the outside and teams will try and prevent us to use that,” said Snyman.
The Blitzboks will be aiming for their first Olympic medal since the bronze they won in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. They missed out on a podium finish in Tokyo after losing to Argentina in the quarterfinals.
The men's rugby tournament gets underway when Australia plays Samoa at 15:30 while the Blitzboks will play Ireland at 17:30 followed by a game against New Zealand at 21:30.
The men's football tournament kicks off a 15:00 with a game between Morocco and Argentina, who are aiming for their first gold medal in the event since 2008, while Spain will play Uzbekistan at the same time.
Blitzboks’ pool schedule:
Wednesday 24 July:
17h30: Ireland
21h30: New Zealand
Thursday 25 July
16h00: Japan
Blitzbok squad for the 2024 Olympic Games:
1) Christie Grobbelaar
2) Ryan Oosthuizen
3) Impi Visser
4) Zain Davids
5) Quewin Nortje
6) Tiaan Pretorius
7) Shaun Williams
8) Selvyn Davids (captain)
9) Tristan Leyds
10) Rosko Specman
11) Siviwe Soyizwapi
12) Shilton van Wyk
13) Ronald Brown (travelling reserve)
14) Katlego Letebele (travelling reserve)