The Blitzboks are aiming to win the Canadian leg of the World Rugby Sevens Series for the first time since 2021 at BC Place in Vancouver this weekend.
In that Covid-hit year, two back-to-back tournaments were held in Canada, at BC Place and the Commonwealth Stadium, with the Springboks Sevens winning both.
Since then, though, they have finished fifth, 13th and ninth in Vancouver.
“Last time around, we were a bit disjointed, and it showed in our play,” said co-captain Impi Visser ahead of their opening match against New Zealand on Friday.
“Credit to the management who sorted all the little niggles out, as we arrived here a happy and determined squad, cold as it may be in Vancouver.
“The environment they created allows the relationship amongst the players to be as healthy as they can be, and we all flourish as a group because of that.”
The Blitzboks are currently fourth in the 2024-25 standings after coming sixth in Dubai, winning the Cape Town Sevens and finishing fourth in Perth.
“We had some calls not going our way in Perth [in the semi-final loss to Australia], but we still played good rugby,” said Visser, who will share the captaincy duties with Selvyn Davids this week after Zain Davids was ruled out due to injury.
“We did very good work in the pre-season, so that foundation was laid and our success or not in tournaments will boil down to our execution on the day.
“We have some brilliant individual players who really bring something to the party, so the key for us is to combine as a team in order to benefit from those skilled players.
“A good result here will help a lot towards our build-up for the Grand Finale [in Los Angeles] in a couple of months,” Visser added. “We are not results driven per se, and rather focused on the execution and effort of our game plan, but a good result will be of great value to us.”
Blitzboks’ Pool B fixtures (SA times):
Friday, 21 February
vs New Zealand (10:02pm)
Saturday, 22 February
vs Ireland (3:29am)
vs Australia (9:14am)
READ: Reynders game for Blitzboks action
Blitzboks squad: Ryan Oosthuizen, Impi Visser (co-c), Ricardo Duarttee, Ronald Brown, Selvyn Davids (co-c), Siviwe Soyizwapi, Shilton van Wyk, Quewin Nortje, Donavan Don, Sebastiaan Jobb, David Brits, Zander Reynders, Tristan Leyds.
Photo: Paul Kane/Getty Images
The post Execution key for Blitzboks in Canada appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
The Blitzboks are aiming to win the Canadian leg of the World Rugby Sevens Series for the first time since 2021 at BC Place in Vancouver this weekend.
The post Execution key for Blitzboks in Canada appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
