You can’t blame fans for being a tad on edge as the Blitzboks prepare for Cape Town SVNS. Cape Town Stadium hasn’t been the kindest of venues to the hosts, and it’s ironic when you consider that the side have won numerous tournaments all around the globe, but somehow, the one in their own back yard has side-stepped them for eight long years.
The fact that the two-day tournament in the Mother City won’t feature a quarter-final round is another factor that adds to the already-stacked pressure on the men in green and gold.
The revamped tournament means that every game is a must win, but it isn’t something that they are viewing as too big a factor. In fact, it doesn’t add much pressure at all according to Tristan Leyds, who will be running out for his first Cape Town event this weekend.
It is definitely a different format to what we are used to, I think it’s the first time they’re trying this out, but it’s not something that adds pressure or makes things more challenging.
We take it game by game, day by day. So, with our first game being [against] Ireland, that will be our focus leading up to the weekend, and after Ireland, we will look at the Argies and address them. After that, we can look at Sunday, but we will take it game by game.
The Blitzboks will also be looking to bounce back after finishing sixth in Dubai and missing out on gold in the United Arab Emirates after being victorious for five consecutive years.
But there was a silver lining to the disappointment they suffered in the 2024/2025 opening tournament, Leyds believes, as falling out of Cup contention meant that they contested one less game than they would have had they progressed to the final stages.
Obviously, this was not the result we wanted in Dubai, we would have loved to go six in a row, but we didn't do certain things we wanted to do and we didn't stick to the game plan as we would have loved to. Playing five games in Dubai instead of six definitely gives a bit of extra time to recover for Cape Town, so hopefully we go into it with full energy and fully prepared for Cape Town.
Over the years, there have been many theories around the Blitzboks’ struggles at their home venue, with one being that there is too much media pressure and too many distractions in the week building up to the event.
When asked if they will approach this tournament any differently to previous Cape Town tournaments, Leyds - who will be playing in his seventh tournament – said: “I think [our focus is] just to keep the group as close as possible, block out outside pressure and outside media."
This will be my first Cape Town, I joined them last year in the build-up to the tournament and trained with them, and I could see how amped the guys were for their home tournament it is the only home tournament we have, so I don’t think we need any more pressure to perform, you are just excited to play in front of your home crowd.
South Africa will contest two pool games on Saturday; against Ireland (11.44am) and Argentina (6.41pm).
The Springbok Sevens squad for Cape Town:
- Impi Visser (co-captain)– 40 tournaments, 205 points (41 tries);
- Zain Davids (co-captain) – 48 tournaments, 210 points (42 tries);
- Ricardo Duarttee – 13 tournaments, 221 points (16 tries, 69 conversions, 1 penalty goal);
- Shaun Williams – 18 tournaments, 157 points (25 tries, 16 conversions);
- Dewald Human – 26 tournaments, 291 points (25 tries, 83 conversions);
- Siviwe Soyizwapi – 54 tournaments, 780 points (152 tries);
- Shilton van Wyk – 21 tournaments, 185 points (37 tries);
- Mfundo Ndhlovu – 17 tournaments, 115 points (23 tries);
- Quewin Nortje – 7 tournaments, 105 points (21 tries);
- Donavan Don – 4 tournaments, 35 points (7 tries);
- David Brits – 4 tournaments, 25 points (5 tries);
- Zander Reynders – uncapped;
- Tristan Leyds – 6 tournaments, 97 points (13 tries, 16 conversions)
