Philip Snyman has his sights set on a Blitzboks comeback, nurturing the team back to its glory days.
South Africa (06 October 2024) – There was a sense of optimism and hope for a “new era” when Sandile Ngcobo was announced as head coach of the Blitzboks in September 2022. He was joined as an assistant by former captain Philip Snyman, who had coached the Ugandan and Germany Sevens National teams before the appointment.
The duo took over the reins from the experienced Neil Powell, who, after the 7s Rugby World Cup, called time on his Sevens coaching career to join the Sharks as Director of Rugby.
What followed, however, in the two seasons under Ngcobo were heaps of inconsistent results, with the team taking steps backwards, which forced SA Rugby earlier this year to intervene.
That intervention, called upon by Ngcobo, resulted in him being demoted and returning to coaching the Academy.
Snyman took over on an interim basis, leading the side to qualification for the Olympics and a bronze medal at the showpiece in Paris. He has since been promoted to head coach and entrusted with leading the team up until the LA Games in 2028.
View this post on Instagram
EXCITED BUT NERVOUS
Leading a national team is certainly not foreign territory for Snyman.
Before the SA Rugby gig, he coached Uganda and led Germany to qualification for the 7s Rugby World Cup hosted in Cape Town in 2022.
There is a certain level of pressure, however, when coaching a South African team, and that stems from internal and external expectations to win consistently, and Snyman understands that.
“I’m really grateful for the opportunity, there’s a lot of expectations, and in a job like this you need to make you’re up for it and prepared daily,” he told SportsBoom.com in an exclusive interview,
“From my side, I’m excited, a little bit nervous to be honest.”
“There’s a lot of pressure but with the current squad we have and the new guys coming through, I’m happy to lead the team for the next couple of years and I’ll make sure we get back to the stage where everybody is proud of us again.”
PICKING UP THE PIECES
When the 37-year-old took over in March, matters were deteriorating, and the Blitzboks looked like they were heading for their worst season in history.
He came in and, in a short space of time, changed things around. Snyman started by ensuring the team remained in the circuit for the 2024/25 season and qualified for the Olympics via the Repechage tournament in Monaco.
After that, he led the side to an Olympic bronze medal after losing their opening two matches at the Games.
View this post on Instagram
All in all, the former Blitzbok captain salvaged what could’ve been a nightmarish year for the system.
“It was a very difficult time to take over, I think, with two tournaments to go, then the qualifiers for the Olympic games,” Snyman explained.
“When they (SA Rugby) asked me to take over as interim, they set three goals for us, and that was to stay in the top eight, qualify for the Olympics and perform.”
“The biggest thing for me off-field was to ensure everybody was happy and bought into the plan. I had to make sure the culture was good.”
“At the Olympics, we made changes to our defence, and in the quarterfinals against New Zealand, produced probably one of the best defensive efforts out there in a very long time.”
“It started off the field, getting the smiles on the players again, getting them happy to come into training, the guys bought in and delivered the goods.”
NEW ERA
In a statement released by SA Rugby after Snyman’s appointment, he said: “There’s a lot of work to be done.”
Indeed, there is, and in the next four years, Snyman’s tenure as head coach will be judged on his winning percentage, how he grows the team, performances on the World Series circuit, the 2026 World Cup, the Commonwealth Games, and the LA Olympics in 2028.
However, the coach said he’s not thinking far ahead and is focused on getting the buy-in from the players first.
“It’s a new era, a lot of old faces have retired or playing 15s rugby now,” he said.
“We need to start all over again, work on the culture, – you can’t still live a culture from five or seven years ago. It’s time to make sure everyone gets the buy-in.”
“We need everybody on the same page, and sort out all the off-field stuff, make sure everybody is happy, and everyone comes with a smile to work.”
“We want to be successful and be competitive in every single tournament. To make sure we get that, we need to get younger guys in and have senior players that make sure we hit those markers every week.”
GROWING THE SEVENS ACADEMY
The SA Rugby Sevens Academy, which was managed by Marius Schoeman, who has since left the role, has, over the years, played a pivotal role in feeding the senior team with up-and-coming talent.
It’s produced quality players like JC Pretorius, Sako Makata, Kurt-Lee Arendse, and Ronald Brown.
Its challenge, however, has been the lack of tournaments played by the youngsters to prepare them for when they take the step up to the senior team.
Snyman has emphasized the importance of the academy, as they aim to attract some of the best talent South Africa has on offer.
“It doesn’t help having an academy and having no tournaments for the guys to play in,” Snyman continued.
“Our biggest obstacle is to get tournaments, have guys coming in from the Varsity Cup, the SA u20s, and let them play in academy tournaments. I think that would be a massive step for us if we can get that right.”
“That would mean before they hit the big stage, they’ve played in three or four tournaments on the International stage, and that’ll make it easy for us.”
“We also need to make sure we have balance in the team, bleed one or two players in a tournament and not eight. We need to ensure we get the right combination between having experience and getting in younger guys, making sure they’re ready for 2028.”
2024/25 season
Snyman’s troops are currently busy with pre-season preparations ahead of the new season, which kicks off in November.
The first tournament will take place in Dubai (30 Nov-1 Dec), which has been a happy hunting ground for the Blitzboks in previous years.
After that, they’ll shift their attention to the Cape Town leg (7-8 December), before returning to action next year January in Perth.
Snyman said their realistic goal is to be consistent in each tournament they play in.
“The realistic goal for us is to be consistent in the semifinals,” he said.
“You need to win the quarterfinal, and that’s probably the hardest game on the circuit right now – but we want to give ourselves a shot to medal.”
“We also want to give the youngsters coming through enough game time for them to progress into the next stage,” he concluded.
by 