The Blitzboks play in their first two games of the Singapore sevens tournament against Spain and Samoa on Friday and Philip Snyman will undoubtedly want to stoke the revival fires.
The South Africans delivered a much better performance in the previous tournament in Hong Kong, where they played Ireland and the Spaniards, among others.
Snyman is the Blitzbokke’s temporary head coach these days and he approached players like Shakes Soyizwapi and Dylan Sage for the Singapore adventure.
The 32-year-old Sage is a veteran of 26 sevens tournaments and he has played fifteen-man rugby with the Bulls and Montauban in France in the past few years.
The Olympic Games serve as good motivation and even if the South Africans have not yet qualified for the sporting spectacle in Paris, Sage has been persuaded to make a difference in Blitzbok colours.
“Yes, nothing is a given yet, but I am willing to give things a chance,” he said.
Sage admittedly played his last Blitzbok game quite a while ago, but he says that he found his feet in the group again without much effort.
“I have played a lot of rugby with most of the senior players and there are only a few new players that I have to get used to. Now I just want to play tournaments and let my feet dance to the rhythm of sevens rugby again.”
The Blitzbokke are currently seventh in the official HSBC standings with 58 points after winning the first tournament of the season in Dubai.
Dylan Sage and Siviwe Soyizwapi are like kids in a candy store, with their #Blitzbox return imminent ????#PoweredByUnity pic.twitter.com/mCubUjUev1
— Springbok Sevens (@Blitzboks) April 30, 2024
Blitzbok squad for Singapore: Christie Grobbelaar, Impi Visser, Zain Davids, Tiaan Pretorius, Selvyn Davids (captain), Dewald Human, Shakes Soyizwapi, Shilton van Wyk, Rosko Specman, Tristan Leyds, Dylan Sage, Quewin Nortjé and Katlego Letebele.
Terms:
Friday:
07:58: South Africa v Spain
13:18: South Africa against Samoa
Saturday:
08:24: South Africa against France
