Blitzboks still have season objectives to achieve, says captain Visser
· Citizen
At the start of the 2025/26 season, the Springbok Sevens committed themselves to giving everything to building a squad and a value system that would conquer all, and that job is not done yet.
While recent successes in the HSBC SVNS Series have fuelled that desire and now, with the World Championship title at stake, Blitzbok captain Impi Visser said they had two more steps on the ladder and would not stop in their desire to reach the top.
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The South Africans finalised their preparation for this weekend’s HSBC SVNS Valladolid tournament after a late arrival in Spain on Monday resulted in only one intense training session on Tuesday.
Earlier on Wednesday, Visser was on duty at the traditional captains’ photo session before the tournament kicked off on Friday.
“We have met most of the objectives we set for ourselves, but it is not done as we’ve not achieved everything we’ve committed too,” said Visser.
“We have done good things thus far, but we must keep reminding ourselves and pushing each other that the job is not done yet.
“That fuels the fire in the squad and our session yesterday was sharp, despite the long travel to get here. Luckily it is quite hot here, as we prefer these conditions, especially after the rain back home last week.”
Few disruptions
The Blitzboks suffered very few injury disruptions this season and that helped in keeping their momentum.
“We have three changes from Hong Kong with Dewald (Human), Ricky (Duarttee) and Gino (Cupido) back, but all of them played during the regular season and slotted back in nicely, so we are good to go,” explained Visser.
“We had some time post Hong Kong to work on some soft skills and fine-tuned our strategies for this tournament. So, we came prepared.”
Visser said that without showing up with the right attitude and mindset at Estadio Jose Zorrilla on Friday, their Pool A matches against Great Britain, Kenya and Australia could easily go south for the Blitzboks.
“We had a slow start in Hong Kong and then had to scramble to get back into it, and we don’t want that to happen again,” admitted Visser.
“The focus now moves to Great Britain who are really good at the breakdown, Kenya who are so physical, and then Australia who are very skilful. It is going to be a competitive pool and we need to be at our best.”
South Africa’s Pool A fixtures (SA times)
Friday 29 May
v Great Britain – 12:34pm
v Kenya – 5:08pm
Saturday 30 May
v Australia – 1:23pm
HSBC SVNS World Championship standings
1. South Africa – 20 points, 2. Argentina – 18, 3. Spain – 16, 4. New Zealand – 14, 5. Fiji – 12