'Fresh and ready to go': Soyizwapi relishing first season outing

Siviwe Soyizwapi cannot wait to wear a Blitzboks jersey again this weekend at his first HSBC SVNS Series appearance of the season in Singapore.

With 60 tournament appearances under his belt the 33-year-old is the most experienced players in Philip Snyman’s squad. It is his first outing for South Africa since he helped the side to HSBC SVNS World Championships glory in Los Angeles last season.

He leads a team without the experience of Selvyn Davids, Ronald Brown and Dewald Human. This has opened the door to Renaldo Young and Luan Giliomee to make their HSBC SVNS Series debuts.

Handed the captain’s armband for Singapore, and potentially Perth too, Soyizwapi is looking forward to kick-off.

“Being back in the squad makes one realise what a wonderful experience it is to play for the Blitzboks on the world stage,” Soyizwapi said.

“You realise what you have missed out on, so I am very happy to be back. On the plus side of not playing, rest is good and the body can recover a bit from the bumps and bruises. So, I am fresh and ready to go.

“We have a balanced side, but we are short of experience and will be tested with our key playmakers not here. For the experienced core, our role will be to make sure those new guys settle in and play the game they were selected for. They are not here by luck; they are here because they have the talent and the opportunity to show that.”

After an enthralling tournament on home soil last time out, South Africa have been named in Pool A with Fiji, Great Britain and Spain in Singapore.

Fully aware that prior success almost two months ago will not guarantee success this time around, with Soyizwapi keen to prioritise mindset above anything else.

“With regards to our attitude, it is a bit of both restart and continuing what we started,” Soyizwapi said. “It might be a new year, but it is still the same season, so we can benefit from the work we put in last year.

“The restart part comes with us understanding that the first two tournaments do not mean anything this weekend, we will still have to lay the foundation for the tournament in the very first game.

“We can always draw inspiration from Cape Town, as we can from our amazing win here in 2019 when we came from behind to beat Fiji for the title. That was one for the books and will always inspire us.”