Team South Africa’s men’s rugby sevens, widely known as the Blitzboks on the world circuit, head into their first match at the 2024 Olympics on Wednesday as one of the form teams.
Despite having to win their way through final qualifying, they arrived in Paris on the back of six straight victories in Monaco last month, beating Mexico, Tonga, Chile, Uganda, Canada and Great Britain along the way.
However, now the temperature ramps up and it will reach boiling point in the 69,000- capacity Stade De France on Wednesday. The men’s team comes up against Ireland as the first of their three matches in Pool A. Also in the tough grouping are New Zealand and Japan.
This is the third time sevens rugby has been included on the Olympic roster and Team SA are eager to rise to the occasion, having won bronze at Rio 2016 but missing out on a medal in 2020.
The old cliche of one match at a time is exactly what the mindset of coach Philip Snyman will be as he prepares his troops for battle. After all, Ireland themselves come off the back of a successful world series season and were in fact the last country to beat Team SA, winning 12-7 to take fifth place in Madrid in June.
Throw that into the rugby mix of South Africa’s rivalry with Ireland and there’s an extra edge to the opener against Ireland.
Rosko Specman won’t object to being called a veteran and the 35-year-old has been there and done that in both formats of the game. He was also part of the Team SA squad that claimed gold at Rio 2016, as was Snyman.
“That’s very true,” said Specman after a training session in Paris. “We are out to settle a score. They beat us the last time we played them in Sevens and then when it came to the 15’s they won the second Test to level the series at 1-all. This time though we are out to make it two-one in our favour.
“We know that it’s always back and forth against Ireland. They’ve given us a hard time throughout the season and they often punch first. We know what they are going to bring and we will counter that. There’s great energy about this group and we have a nice plan in store,” Specman added.
There are three groups of four teams in each of the men’s and women’s competitions. The women also have a tough pool to encounter, with opposition looming in the form of Australia, Ireland and Great Britain.