An impressive performance in the opening tournament of the 2024 HSBC SVNS in Dubai last weekend created expectations that the Springbok Sevens squad will do a double at the HSBC SVNS Cape Town this weekend.
However, Blitzbok captain Selvyn Davids downplayed those expectations on Friday as the team finished off their preparations and said it will quite tough to go back-to-back.
The South Africans will be aiming for only a second tournament victory in Cape Town since 2015, when the tournament moved to the Mother City for the first time.
“It is quite tough to win two weekends in a row, especially now where the number of teams had decreased to 12 and every game feels like a final,” Davids said.
“Of course there will be expectations, as we did play well last week and we are looking at a similar result, but there are so many teams that have the potential to play in the final.
“So, it will be about limiting mistakes and expressing ourselves through the game plan. We have showed to ourselves last week what is possible, so there is no reason to doubt.
“We trained well and have the momentum from last weekend, so we will go into the tournament with confidence. We recovered well from last week – the bodies were sore but our training load for this week was less hectic, and I think we freshened up nicely.”
The team visited Table Mountain on Thursday and Davids said that helped to ease the nerves for the weekend.
“Yes, that was good,” he said. “The scenic beauty and to be out there taking it in was something else and very relaxing for the players. It had a relaxing effect, and we could forget about the pressures of the game for a while.”
South Africa play Great Britain, USA and Ireland in Pool A of the tournament played at DHL Stadium and Davids said they will have a strategy for each of those opponents.
Apart for Argentina (439 caps), Team GB are the most experienced in Cape Town, with a combined total of 352 caps, compared with South Africa on 298 combined tournament caps.
The Springbok Sevens squad for Cape Town (with shirt number and HSBC SVNS career stats):
- Ryan Oosthuizen – 44 tournaments, 200 points (40 tries)
- Impi Visser – 33 tournaments, 165 points (33 tries)
- Zain Davids – 41 tournaments, 190 points (38 tries)
- Tiaan Pretorius – 5 tournaments 10 points (2 tries)
- Ronald Brown – 14 tournaments 352 points (36 tries, 86 conversions)
- Selvyn Davids (captain) – 30 tournaments 591 points (74 tries, 110 conversions)
- Dewald Human – 23 tournaments 253 points (21 tries, 74 conversions)
- Shilton van Wyk – 14 tournaments 150 points (30 tries)
- Rosko Specman – 31 tournaments 426 points (78 tries, 18 conversions)
- Masande Mtshali – 6 tournaments 10 points (2 tries)
- Justin Geduld – 55 tournaments 1098 points (117 tries, 256 conversions)
- Quewin Nortje – 1 tournament, 20 points (4 tries)
- Katlego Letebele – 1 tournament, 0 points
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