REACTION: “Blitzboks only have themselves to blame”

Assistant coach Philip Snyman hit the Blitzboks some hard truths following their disappointing defeat against Samoa in the Cup semi-finals of the Cape Town Sevens.

ALSO READ: Blitzboks crash and burn at Cape Town Sevens

The Blitzboks had only ever won the Cape Town Sevens once, the maiden World Rugby Sevens Series tournament in the city in 2015. Every year since, they’ve crashed out in spectacular fashion and this time was now different. They slumped to a shock loss in the most agonising way against the Pacific Islanders, to leave the crowd reeling.

Everything that could possibly go wrong in the elimination match, did go wrong and it was not a pretty sight.

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Blitzboks must take responsibility for own downfall at the Cape Town Sevens

In the immediate aftermath of their elimination, when emotions were still running high, Snyman placed the blame squarely on the Blitzboks’ shoulders.

“We only have ourselves to blame for what happened against Samoa and we need to take a hard look at ourselves. We made crucial mistakes in critical areas of the game, like not converting opportunities into points, a couple of knock ons and a passes that flew out the window. So maybe it was because of a lack of concentration in critical moments,” Snyman said.

“We would have liked to be in the final. We started [the tournament] off well and then in the last game against Samoa, we had all the opportunities in the world, but couldn’t convert that into points.”

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Snyman too subtly hinted that the Blitzboks players caved under the pressures and expectations of playing in front of their home crowd.

“We have to see where we can put the guys under more pressure in training, if needs be. We have to make sure the players comeback stronger from this loss.”

Overall, Snyman explained that they are happy with how this relatively young side has performed from Friday up to the semi-final against Samoa, adding that they want to close out the Cape Town Sevens on a high in the third-place bronze medal match.

“We’re really disappointed with the result, but we also can’t fault the boys on the effort they showed throughout the whole weekend. Unfortunately, we are out of contention for the Cup, but there is still one more game to go and we want to make our people proud and we want to restore some pride in the Blitzboks jersey in the last match.”

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The Blitzboks squad for Cape Town Sevens: 

Impi Visser – 23 tournaments, 118 matches, 125 points (25 tries)
Zain Davids – 34 tournaments, 170 matches, 160 points (32 tries)
Ryan Oosthuizen – 34 tournaments, 163 matches, 165 points (33 tries)
James Murphy – 10 tournaments, 46 matches, 50 points (10 tries)
JC Pretorius – 22 tournaments, 116 matches, 245 points (49 tries)
Masande Mtshali – 1 tournament, 1 match
Branco du Preez – 84 tournaments, 426 matches, 1442 points (101 tries, 466 conversions, 1 drop goal)
Ricardo Duarrtee – 1 tournament, 6 matches, 30 points (4 tries, 5 conversions)
Darren Adonis – 8 tournaments, 33 matches, 54 points (10 tries, 2 conversions)
Muller Du Plessis – 21 tournaments, 98 matches, 325 points (65 tries)
Shilton van Wyk – 6 tournaments, 34 matches, 50 points (10 tries)
Dalvon Blood – 2 tournaments, 10 matches, 25 points (5 tries)
Siviwe Soyizwapi (captain) – 42 tournaments, 221 matches, 690 points (138 tries)

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