EXCLUSIVE: Snyman’s BlitzBoks not bothered by Hong Kong hoodoo

The BlitzBoks have never tasted success in Hong Kong, but coach Philip Snyman isn’t making too much of that fact as his team heads into the first tournament of the SVNS World Championship at Kai Tak Sports Park on Friday.

Having already secured the 2025/26 SVNS series title, the BlitzBoks head into the first tournament of the SVNS World Championship as reigning champions after winning the title in Los Angeles last season. They will face Uruguay, Spain, and Argentina in Pool A.

While success in the Far East has always evaded them, breaking their home-ground drought has Snyman believing they can achieve success in Hong Kong as well.

In 2024, the BlitzBoks defeated France 24-16 in a pulsating final to clinch their first Cape Town title in nine years.

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Getting over that hurdle seems to be all the Springbok Sevens group had to do, as they celebrated in the Mother City again the very next year. They also achieved a historic victory in Perth earlier this season when they won their first tournament in Australia since 2017.

Now, as they head into the first of three World Championship tournaments, Snyman says the approach remains the same as they hunt glory in the city widely regarded as the jewel in the SVNS crown.

“We have never won in Hong Kong, but then again, before last year we hadn’t won in Cape Town in almost 10 years and before this year we hadn’t won in Perth in almost 10 years,” Snyman asserted.

“So, I think with the generation of players who have come through, newer and younger players who don’t know the hoo-ha of Hong Kong and how we’ve been trying to win a title here, our approach remains the same.

“We have an on-field ID and certain goals we want to achieve. If we reach those, we’ll be successful, so that is going to be our focus this weekend. Our tackle completion rate, our possession, our discipline in terms of conceding penalties and cards, those are going to be big factors. If we can get those rights, we’ll give ourselves a chance to have a successful weekend.”

The Sevens season has undergone significant changes in recent years.

Before the SVNS rebrand in 2023, the season’s best team was determined by a cumulative World Sevens Series structure, which saw teams compete in numerous events, with the team at the top of the standings at the conclusion of the series crowned series winners. There was no World Championship following the series.

For the 2023/24 season, the series rebranded to SVNS and the number of core teams was reduced to 12, with seven regular-season tournaments and a Grand Final, contested in a single tournament, at the conclusion of the regular season.

For the 2025/26 season, core teams were again reduced, this time to eight, while the World Championship was extended to three tournaments in Hong Kong, Valladolid (May 29-31), and Bordeaux (June 5-7).

The World Championship features the eight tier-one nations in South Africa, Fiji, New Zealand, France, Australia, Argentina, Spain, and Great Britain, as well as four qualifiers from SVNS2 in the form of the USA, Germany, Kenya, and Uruguay.

With the new structure, a team can be series winners but not World Championship winners, and vice versa, and while the BlitzBoks mentor explained that he was a huge proponent for the old structure, he added that the newer season layout with a World Championship at the end also adds an element of excitement.

“We almost see it as two parts of the season, with the first part being the series. I think the approach there is to see if you can build more depth and give more players more opportunities, or that was our approach, at least. I think it’s often very difficult to build depth and still get results; we were lucky that we had a good plan and a good recipe to build depth and still get results this year. For other teams, it perhaps didn’t work out the way they would have hoped.

“If you were to ask five people, all of them would probably have different answers, but I’m a big supporter of a full series where a winner is determined at the end of the series. This is also an exciting way to end the league and then move on to the championship. I’m excited for the championship and the tournaments that lie ahead. We are going to give our best.”

He went on to explain that given the unpredictable nature of sevens, having the SVNS World Championship contested over three tournaments as opposed to a once-off event will underline a crucial factor – consistency.

“I’ve always been a big supporter of the series and being consistent in all the tournaments. This isn’t just a once-off tournament where you go out and play, but this format is also going to reveal how consistent you can be over three tournaments; that’s where a system’s depth and character get tested,” he said.

“In sevens, especially, you can slip up in one pool game and not have a good weekend, but with it being three tournaments instead of one, you still have a chance to go out and fix it over three tournaments. We all know how quickly a game can change in Sevens; it can change in a wink, so I am a big supporter of it (a three-tournament World Championship). For me, the more tournaments in the series, the better, then you can see the true winners, so I’m looking forward to three tournaments as opposed to one.”

The fact that the Blitzboks won both the series and the World Championship last season, of course, creates high expectations – as is always the case when the South Africans play – but it doesn’t necessarily increase pressure on them, Snyman believes, as their series success also guaranteed them automatic qualification to next season’s edition.

“Winning the series and the championship last year was fantastic, but this is an open playing field for everyone. Four new teams are joining. We have confidence that we can take into this weekend, but it’s a new tournament and a new format.

“So, I don’t think there’s unnecessary pressure on us. I think it’s quite the contrary as we are the only team that’s already qualified for next year’s series, so that takes some pressure off of us, so we can just go out there and play.

“With that said, we have set high standards for ourselves for this season, and we want to live up to it. Our approach will be the same as all other tournaments, and that’s to get over that first hurdle well.”

While the Blitzboks won the last three tournaments of the series, it didn’t come without cost.

Christie Grobbelaar, Dewald Human, and rising star Gino Cupido were all ruled out after picking up injuries on the North American leg (Vancouver and New York).

But injuries are part and parcel of sport, and a negative Snyman has used as an opportunity.

“Injuries are always a big headache for any coach, but I think what made things easier with three injuries in our team… A lot of credit has to go to our medical team and especially Ghafoer Luckan (conditioning coach), who has done an amazing job at getting our conditioning right for this season,” the former Blitzboks captain said.

“There were one or two times where I was forced to hand a newcomer an opportunity and also to rest some of the players to ensure they’d be sharp for the World Championship. Impi Visser got a bit of a rest, and he’s playing some of his best rugby. Zain Davids got a breather. Selvyn (Davids) and Ronald (Brown) were also out due to injury, so I think there are two or three, maybe four guys who have played in all of the tournaments.

“Shilton van Wyk and Donavan Don were both rested for one tournament each, so I think it allowed us to build depth and the assurance that you can rely on any of the young players should the need arise. That’s what this season has taught us. Injuries are never welcomed, but at the best of times, the sport we play will always deliver some injuries,” he continued.

“We are in a good place, and the nice thing in our group is that competitive excellence we want; every player pushes hard and that’s what makes the training sessions and the team better. On any given day, there are 20 or 21 guys we can select from and not one of them would disappoint, so I’m very, very proud of the group. I think we’ve come a long way. “

BlitzBoks Pool Schedule (SA time):

Friday, April 17:

Uruguay 05.16

Spain 08.49

Saturday, April 18:

Argentina 06h13