Blitzboks undaunted by pressure

His team took a lot of confidence from their podium finish at the Paris Olympics, Blitzboks coach Philip Snyman argues ahead of the start of the World Sevens Series in Dubai.

Snyman believes his team will also be ready to handle the pressure of playing in Cape Town next week.

They will, however, be without the hugely influential Selvyn Davids who is injured, but Snyman told the To the Last Drop podcast they have sufficient contingencies in place to mitigate the blow.

Snyman also chuckles at the notion he might have picked up the World Coach of the Year award had his team instead of France gone all the way in the Paris Olympics. He believes Boks coach Rassie Erasmus is more deserving of the accolade.

In the latest episode of To the Last Drop, World Player of the Year Pieter-Steph du Toit also explains what winning the award a second time means to him.

Hosts Brenden Nel and Liam Del Carme also look ahead to this weekend's matches in the URC.

Listen at the top of the page or directly below.

About the 'To The Last Drop' podcast hosts

Liam Del Carme

Liam is one of the country's most enduring sports writers. His time in the newsrooms pre-dates rugby turning professional in the 1990s. Del Carme has been in the employ of broadsheet newspapers The Argus, Sunday Independent, This Day and Beeld, and is currently the rugby writer at The Sunday Times. Del Carme has reported at six Rugby World Cups and around 20 Currie Cup finals.

He loves cooking and travel and is the author of the book 'WINGING IT – On tour with the Boks'. When time allows, he is a television pundit and writes a regular column on timeslive.co.za under the title ‘The Worst of Times’.

Brenden Nel

Rugby has always been a passion for Brenden, so much so that he made it a career. Since first entering a newsroom at the Citizen almost three decades ago, he has written for some of the biggest titles in the world, including Rapport, the Independent (UK), The Times (UK), South China Morning Post and a host of others. Currently, he covers all things rugby for Supersport.com and has reported on no less than four World Cups, five Sevens World Cups and around 250 test matches in total. 

Brenden is also the author of "Derick Hougaard - Dieware storie van Loftus se Liefling” and has a popular YouTube channel under his name. He loves nothing more when away from the game than a glass of good red wine, a good fire and spending time with his wife and four rescue dogs.

Listen to previous episodes via the full 'To the Last Drop' channel below: