Former South Africa captain to join Uganda Sevens technical setup

The two experts will arrive in Uganda just in time for the first training camp

Former Blitzboks (South Africa men’s Sevens national team) captain Philip Snyman is set to join the Uganda Men’s Sevens national team technical setup to boost the team’s preparations ahead of a busy 2022 campaign.

Uganda has set its eyes on the Commonwealth Games scheduled for July 29-31 in Birmingham, UK, and the Rugby World Cup Sevens from September 9-11 in Cape Town, South Africa. The team’s qualification pathway for both events is the Rugby Africa Sevens set for April 23-24 at a yet-to-be-confirmed host city.

As plans to have the team adequately prepared, the URU recently entered into a partnership with South Africa particularly the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport (SAS) to provide the team with specialized coaching expertise as well as options to have the team camp at SAS.

South Africa is sending Philip Snyman who is a BlitzBoks legend to Uganda to give support to the Uganda 7s coaching team in preparing the team. Philip will be accompanied by Johan Van Wyk who is a Strength & Conditioning specialist coach from SAS.

Snyman played for the Blitzboks from 2008-2019, winning three World Series titles – two as captain – and an Olympic Bronze medal. Then he transitioned almost immediately into coaching and has been Blitzboks consultant since retirement. Snyman coached the South Africa U18 Sevens team and the World Tens Series Winner SX10 in 2020.

Johan Van Wyk, a Strength & Conditioning Specialist with a Master’s degree in Physiotherapy, is the Head of Performance at SAS. He is currently responsible for the Rehabilitation programme of the Blitzboks and Junior Springboks.

This partnership with SAS will not only provide technical support to the Uganda Sevens but could include the national team holding camps in Stellenbosch.

The two experts will arrive in Uganda just in time for the first training camp of the campaign that will take place from January 23-29.

Players summoned for the training camp