Blitzboks target strong start in Valladolid as Snyman calls for fresh focus

The Blitzboks face Great Britain and Kenya in their Pool A matches on Friday before taking on Australia on Saturday at Estadio Jose Zorrilla.

"There is no doubt that we will need our best performance of the season to be successful here this weekend," said Snyman.

"We will need to play as a team where every individual delivers his best effort. We have identified certain focus points and how to make them smaller by zooming into them. One of those is to focus on ourselves and what we need to do, and not the opponents as such."

They are aware of the bigger picture - being in a good position to win both the HSBC SVNS Series and the World Championship - but that is not where the focus has been in their preparations back home, or this week in sunny Valladolid.

"We have a good group of players here and all had done well during the season - from the most experienced players to the newer ones we brought into our squad this season - and we prepared well," said Snyman.

"We know what we are capable of, but this will still require a fresh start for this tournament and for that matter, we do not look past the opening match against Great Britain."

The Blitzbok coach was happy with their only training session of the week on Tuesday and said there is good energy and synergy in the squad: "We just needed to get those flights out of the systems and that worked, so we are ready. The players are in a good space as well, so we are looking forward to the weekend, but from a match perspective, it all starts against Great Britain."

South Africa Pool A fixtures (SA times):

Friday 29 May

12:34 - Great Britain

17:08 - Kenya

Saturday, 30 May

13:23 - Australia

READ MORE: Blitzboks not resting on laurels as season goals remain in sight