AUDIO:Brown happy to skipper 'poor' BlitzBoks
The BlitzBoks have now handed the leadership responsibilities to veteran Kyle Brown for their upcoming Sevens Series tournament in Hamilton.
Brown was the regular captain of the side for a number of seasons but stood down from the captaincy at the end of the 2015/16 series, when Snyman took over. Snyman, however, returned to South Africa due to injury, and Brown was again handed the captaincy by Springbok Sevens coach, Neil Powell.
Brown admitted their focus have shifted to the fourth tournament of the World Rugby Sevens Series this weekend in Waikato, rather than looking back at the Sydney Sevens, where the Blitzboks lost 0-29 to Australia in the final.
"Leading the team will not be the most difficult part of taking over from Philip. It would rather be on the field where he adds that something extra. He is ruthless on the ground and on defence and whoever takes over from him in the starting line-up will have big shoes to fill this weekend," said Brown.
"Last weekend, we progressed so well during the week into the tournament and then came that final," said Brown, the third most capped Blitzboks player ever.
"Australia were fantastic, but we were really poor. Maybe the moment was too big for us, but the fact is that we had some great matches during the tournament, such as the semi-final against the USA.
"That is the type of performance what we want to replicate this weekend. We like to judge ourselves on our own effort and we did not implement that in the final. That will drive us this weekend,"
The two replacements, Zain Davids and Muller du Plessis, will join the squad in place of Snyman and Ruhan Nel, who also returned home injured, on Wednesday.
"We are looking forward to the weekend. I am happy for Muller, who was still at school last year, as we are looking to build depth in the group. He and Zain will be keen to slot in, but they only arrive in the early hours of the morning and the field session tomorrow will be testing for them for sure," said Brown.
"The guys are flushed out and we will train as a squad tomorrow, which will get the focus back. As will the defence session on Thursday. The series have become just so unpredictable and we are expecting more of the same this weekend,"
