'Learn from your mistakes': Oosthuizen makes Blitzbok promise ahead of Perth

Following South Africa’s fourth-place finish in Singapore, Ryan Oosthuizen has promised the Blitzboks will perform better in Perth.

Ahead of the fourth stop of the 2025/26 HSBC SVNS Series season this weekend, Oosthuizen and his teammates are licking their wounds after a dismal Day 2 last time out.

Losses to France and New Zealand have seen the team drop to third in the overall standings.

Without a string of experienced players, a debut was handed to Luan Giliomee and Nabo Sokoyi played in just his second Series tournament.

“We missed some experienced players in Singapore, but the younger guys will be better this weekend, that is how you gain experience, to learn from your mistakes, something we all know now,” Oosthuizen said.

“That said, we are very eager to get to the training field tomorrow, get rid of the gremlins and arrive Saturday as the team we know we are.”

This weekend in Perth, 30-year-old Oosthuizen will play at his 60th tournament on the Series. His side have been named in Pool A with Argentina, Fiji and Spain.

It was only at the start of December that South Africa won their home Series leg in Cape Town. A dazzling display of the very best that the Blitzboks could put out there on the field, there is hope that form can be rediscovered in Western Australia.

“When we flow, we are very tough to beat, we know that, but playing against ourselves like we did last weekend, created the opposite for us,” Oosthuizen said.

“We have seen in Cape Town how tough it is for other teams to beat us when we get it right, so delivering a 40 or 50 per cent effort compared to that was disappointing.”

After their flight to Australia, South Africa have had an honest review of their exploits in Singapore.

Looking at everything from their discipline and decision-making, the first days next to Perth’s beaches have been stern. But worthwhile.

“We are hard on ourselves, we work hard to get to a certain standard and when we do not reach those during a tournament, we don’t take kindly to that,” Oosthuizen said.

“There are honest conversations, with egos being put to the side and team demands and responsibilities ruling the conversations. It is good that the focus was on off-field stuff, recovering and getting the weekend out of the system. The coaches have the right game plan; we just did not execute.”