Blitzboks were not clinical enough in Spain – Snyman

Springbok Sevens head coach Philip Snyman was adamant that the Blitzboks were their own worst enemies in the HSBC SVNS Valladolid final, where they were outplayed 26-19 by Australia in a pulsating match.

For Snyman, the slow start earlier in the tournament contributed to the result in the final, as the South Africans never played the rugby that they are capable of.

“Australia were deserved winners tonight,” said Snyman.

“They used their opportunities better in the final and deserved the win – they played very good rugby all tournament long.”

Snyman believes that the TMO call at the end of the match, that disallowed what would have been a try by South Africa to level the scores, was par for the course: “Sevens is brutal and so are the margins sometimes. We also had other opportunities, which we did not use, that one pass was not the reason we did not win.”

Snyman said his team played some of their best rugby on Sunday but he was not happy with some of the performances on the first two days.

“Yes, we did very well at stages (on Sunday) but we will have to revisit those areas where we did not do as well as we should have,” he said.

“Earlier in the tournament We were not at our best and will have a look at that. We still made it to the final though, as tough as it is to get to that stage of the competition, so from that perspective, I am pleased.

“You are supposed to set the standard on day one and pick up the momentum from there but we did not quite do that and in fact struggled on the first two days.”

Snyman said they were just not clinical enough and that they needed more possession: “We need to look better after our ball. In the final, we missed too many tackles and that got them back into the game.

“Playing in six consecutive finals is great but this one was not our best, so we need to come back stronger.”

Meanwhile, next weekend's Bordeaux draw has delivered match-ups to savour.

Newly-crowned women's champions Australia will face Japan, Fiji and Brazil, while their male counterparts take on Spain, USA and Uruguay.

World Rugby CEO Alan Gilpin has made the draw for the third and final leg of this year’s HSBC SVNS World Championship series in Bordeaux, on 5-7 June.

After double glory in Valladolid both Australia’s men’s and women’s sides will have it all to do one last time this season in Bordeaux next weekend after the pools for the deciding HSBC SVNS World Championship Series tournament were drawn on the sideline

Australia’s women’s side will want to double down on their first title since Dubai in the heart of France’s wine country and will kick off their Bordeaux challenge against Japan, Fiji and Brazil in Pool B.

Finalists USA face a Valladolid semi-final repeat against Canada, as well as matches against Spain and Great Britain in Pool C; and New Zealand take on hosts France, South Africa and Argentina in Pool A

Australia’s Valladolid-winning men’s team male face Spain, USA and Uruguay in Pool B at the Stade Atlantique.

Beaten finalists South Africa will look to bounce back with a strong Pool A run against Fiji, Kenya and Great Britain, while Argentina will play New Zealand, France and Germany in Pool C.

Scores

Final: South Africa 19 (14), Australia 26 (14)

SA – Tries: Shilton van Wyk, Sebastiaan Jobb, Gino Cupido. Conversions: Tristan Leyds (2).

Australia – Tries: James Turner, Ethan Mcfarland, Ben Dowling, Henry Hutchison. Conversions: Maurice Longbottom (3).

Semi-final: South Africa 19 (5), Argentina 7 (7)

SA - Tries: Sebastiaan Jobb, Ricardo Duarttee, Ryan Oosthuizen. Conversions: Duarttee (2).

Argentina – Try: Santiago Vera Feld. Conversion: Vera Feld.

HSBC SVNS World Championship standings

1 South Africa – 38 pts

2 Argentina – 34

3 Australia – 30

4 Fiji – 26

5 Spain – 26

6 New Zealand – 26

7 France – 14

8 Kenya – 14

2026 HSBC SVNS schedule

29-30 November: Dubai - NZL/NZL

6-7 December: Cape Town - SA/AUS

31 January-1 February: Singapore - FIJI/NZL

7-8 February: Perth - SA/NZL

7-8 March: Vancouver - SA/NZL

14-15 March: New York - SA/NZL

17-19 April: Hong Kong (World Championship Series, Round 1) - SA/NZL

29-31 May: Valladolid (World Championship Series, Round 2) - AUS/AUS

5-7 June: Bordeaux (World Championship Series, Round 3)