Philip Snyman praised the courage and determination of his players in winning the third consecutive HSBC SVNS Series on Sunday night.
The Blitzbokke defeated Fiji 10-7 in the final, in New York, United States. He entered the competition having recently won in Perth in Australia, and Vancouver in Canada.
Apart from these three competitions, the local team was also the champion in the domestic one played in Cape Town in December last year.
In Singapore which was played earlier this year, it finished in fourth place. At the season opener in Dubai last November, it finished fifth.
Winning the New York tournament also confirmed that the local team is the champion of the HSBC SVNS Series as they finished on top with 106 points at the end of six tournaments. Fiji was second with 104.
“We did something very special, not because of how well we played but because of the fight and the spirit of cooperation we showed on the field. The players showed what it means to play for the Blitzbokke, so if you are a coach you should be proud of that,” said Snyman.
“We marked the game in an amazing way from start to finish. Fiji had a chance to score a try that would have won us at the end of the game but our players did not give up and failed to pass. I would like to commend the experienced players who have accepted the idea that they should work with the young ones, helping them to quickly settle in the team.”
The work is not over for the Blitzbokke as they are still going to play three special tournaments that are part of the HSBC SVNS World Championship that will be held in Hong Kong next month, Spain in May and France in June.