Blitzboks bloom at the perfect time
Mike Greenaway
An eruption of relief erupted out of Mother City on Sunday evening and spread its warm glow across South Africa as the Blitzboks hit their straps aftern a long period of underachievement.
The happiest smile in Cape Town, however, was worn by Blitzbok debutant Zander Reynders.
He had been drafted into the squad following injuries to experienced campaigners Ryan Oosthuizen and Christie Grobbelaar and on Monday morning, he was still all smiles. The festive season really came early for the University of Pretoria engineering graduate, who will celebrate his 24th birthday next week Thursday.
“Everything happened pretty quickly and the whole experience was just amazing. I just wanted to make sure that I did the basics well and made no mistakes, like dropping a ball or missing a tackle,” Reynders said, describing his introduction to topflight sevens rugby.
“I have to thank my teammates as well for making it so seamless for me. They really took me under their wings in the week and helped me settle in. To be honest, now I want more.”
Reynders was part of the victorious Springbok Sevens ‘A’ team, playing as the Shogun, in Dubai a week ago and that tournament helped a lot to prepare him for his unexpected debut in the Mother City.
“I played a couple of full matches there and those 14-minute stints certainly helped with the confidence,” said Reynders.
“Having said that, I was shattered after my first five minutes of my debut at this level. Everything is just faster.
“I went into the tournament focused on the basics and looking back, I am just grateful it turned out like it did. I can sum it up with one word, gratitude.”
He also now understands why the Cape Town leg of the world series is so important to the Blitzboks: “It is just amazing playing in front of your friends and family and so many supporters. They really lifted us this past weekend.”
The Blitzboks will return to the training pitch at their Stellenbosch home base on Thursday. They will enjoy a break over the festive season but will resume training early next month as they start preparing for the Perth leg of the series, to be played from at the end of next month.