Philip Snyman: 'This format forces you to win every match'

Ahead of the 2025/26 HSBC SVNS Series season Philip Snyman was open about his desire to blood the next generation of Blitzbok.

Just a day out from HSBC SVNS Singapore, that ambition is about to become a reality as two players prepare to make their debut.

With Ronald Brown, Selvyn Davids and Dewald Human all missing with injury, there has been space for Renaldo Young and Luan Giliomee to step into the squad, while Nabo Sokoyi makes his second tournament appearance after a mesmeric Cape Town debut. There are five players with less than 10 tournaments under their belt.

Only Giliomee will make his debut this weekend and will have the immense experience of 60 tournaments as Siviwe Soyizwapi returns to captain the team in place of Impi Visser.

“We brought some new and less experienced players on this trip for a reason, so it will be important from my side to get the balance right with the mixture between them and the established core of the side,” Snyman said.

“You want to give them as much experience as you can and they need to learn what the series is all about, but we are still going to need the established guys to bring their best game too.

“This trip is as much about building more depth in our squad as it is about results. This format forces you to win every match if you want to make it to the final, so you have to be at your best in every match. But there is always a longer plan too, and ours is to have the best possible squad for the 2028 Olympics.”

South Africa have been named in Pool A alongside Spain, Great Britain and Fiji in Singapore.

In the Pacific Islanders, the Blitzboks face one of the teams level on points with them in the standings. Level with the Fijians and New Zealand, success this weekend could allow Snyman’s team to pull clear at a critical juncture of the season.

With only three stops to go ahead of the Championship, the need for clear daylight at the top has never been more important.

“We had a good build-up since arriving here and the guys are in a good space,” Snyman said. “It is always nice to have a debutant or two in your group as they bring some fresh energy and that again proved the case on this trip.

“So there is much to look forward to. The biggest challenge will be to make sure we are all aligned from the start and on the same page when it comes to our game plan and the detail and execution thereof.”

Blitzbok squad for Singapore

1 Christie Grobbelaar
2 Ryan Oosthuizen
4 Zain Davids
5 Ricardo Duarttee
9 Nabo Sokoyi
11 Siviwe Soyizwapi
12 Shilton van Wyk
15 Donavan Don
16 Sebastiaan Jobb
19 David Brits
21 Zander Reynders
24 Tristan Leyds
27 Luan Giliomee