VIDEO: BlitzBoks must be 'consistent' and 'hungry' again
The new coach staff of South Africa’s national Sevens team won’t be throwing out the proverbial baby with the bath water.
Sandile Ngcobo and Philip Snyman, tasked with taking the team into the 2022/23 season and beyond, said ‘minor tweaks’ rather than mass changes will get the team back on track.
Their appointments this week follow in the wake of the disappointing end to the Neil Powell coaching era.
The BlitzBoks lost in the Sevens World Series race to Australia, after failing to even get out of the pool stages in Los Angeles and ultimately ending 13th – after leading the global circuit before the Final round.
At the World Cup in Cape Town a week ago the South Africans lost in the quartfinals and only managed a lowly seventh place finish in the global showpiece on home soil.
Ngcobo, the head coach in the new coaching set-up, said ‘consistency’ is the key for the BlitzBoks to avoid the heartbreak they suffered in some of the major events this season – especially the World Cup on home soil.
“If I have to sum it up, in one word, it is the inconsistency of the performance of some players,” the coach said.
He said the academy in Stellenbosch will remain the cornerstone of the team and ensure they are at an ‘international’ level.
“We have to ensure the coaches have a bigger pool to select from and whoever makes the step up will be ready to maintain the standard,” the coach added.
Snyman, his assistant, said the academy has, in the past, allowed coaches to create that ‘competition for places’ in the team and keep those in the squad on their toes.
“When we chatted about roles and responsibilities [of the coaches] in the team it was about getting the players hungry again,” Snyman told @rugby365com.
“Our main focus would be to get them all on the same page.
“We have a great coaching team and a lot of experience, so hopefully by tweaking one or two things we can get on the winning path again.”
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