Bronzed Blitzboks Fired Up For Homecoming At SVNS Cape Town

Olympic bronze medallists, the Blitzboks, are fired up and eager to do more than just entertain in their homecoming in the eagerly anticipated SVNS Cape Town at DHL Stadium on 7-8 December, writes Quintin van Jaarsveld.

The Blitzboks endured a disastrous SVNS series campaign in which they crashed to a worst-ever seventh-place finish last season and thus missed out on automatic qualification for the Olympic Games.

Midway through the series, Philip Snyman replaced Sandile Ngcobo as head coach and galvanised the group when the chips were down. Forced to take the dirt road, they won the Repechage tournament in Monaco in July to punch their ticket to the Paris Olympics where they exceeded expectations by bagging bronze.

Snyman’s troops now seek to return to South Africa’s former heights in the SVNS series and are in for an even bigger and louder welcome home party than usual in their first tournament on home soil since their Olympic heroics.

SVNS Cape Town is a sports entertainment spectacle unlike any other, marrying the best of both worlds over two electrifying and unforgettable days. The vibe is proudly South African, the rugby action-packed and the entertainment line-up off the charts, all with Table Mountain as the backdrop.

Cape Town’s own two-time world hip-hop champions, Street Stylers, are inviting fans to dress up and join their world group dancing record attempt based on the “Amapiano NoDNA JustRSA” dance, which boasts more than 15 million views on social media.

Cape Town is one of seven iconic destinations that comprise the SVNS series, with each event showcasing the 12 best men’s and women’s teams, climaxing in a Grand Final weekend on 3-4 May in Las Vegas, where the top eight teams will compete to be crowned series champions.

Meanwhile, teams ranked ninth to 12th will fight it out against the top four teams from the Challenger Series in a relegation play-off to see who secures their place in next year’s edition. There are three new teams this year as Kenya and Uruguay men and China women secured promotion from the Challenger Series.

The men’s teams are South Africa, Argentina, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, defending champions and Olympic gold medallists France, Fiji, Great Britain, USA, Spain, Uruguay and Kenya.

The women’s sides are defending champions Australia, Olympic champions New Zealand, France, USA, Canada, Fiji, Ireland, Great Britain, Japan, Brazil, Spain and China.

Snyman, who’ll coach the team until the end of the next Olympic Games cycle in 2028, has named a squad that is both experienced and exciting with Impi Visser and Zain Davids serving as co-captains.

The hosts will look to end their Cape Town drought, having last won their home tournament with a 19-14 triumph over Argentina in the 2015 series. It was their third South African title in a row and fourth overall.

They finished as runners-up in 2016 and 2019 and won bronze in 2017 and 2018. They had to be satisfied with the Bowl in 2022 when the series returned from a two-year break due to Covid and endured a nightmare tournament last year in which they finished in lowly 11th place.

Given the way they pulled together to qualify and medal at the Paris Olympics and the balance in the squad, along with the extra boost they’ll receive from the crowd as returning heroes, it’s worth backing the Blitzboks.

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