Sebastiaan Jobb eager for redemption as Blitzboks return to Vancouver

The 26-year-old speedster from the Northern Cape flew in from Cape Town via Amsterdam, eager to make up for last year's mixed experience in the city.

It is Jobb's second visit to Vancouver. Last year, he watched from the sidelines after a red card in the semi-final against Fiji, while the Blitzboks were narrowly beaten by Argentina in the final.

This time, Jobb is back in action, fresh off a strong showing in Perth. He joins a squad with six changes from that winning side, confident that the team's focus on competitive excellence will keep them strong for the weekend's HSBC SVNS Series event.

"I have to give coach Philip (Snyman) a lot of credit for achieving that," said Jobb.

"It is one of our main objectives as a group, to really work hard and push each other in training sessions in order to achieve that competitive excellence.

"We may have changed a lot of players, but the standard certainly did not drop as Coach managed to get a group together that are very competitive, not only in Stellenbosch during training, but on the circuit as well.

"We have good depth and the guys are really pushing each other to become the best versions of themselves."

For Jobb, who played for the Junior Springboks before making his Blitzbok debut in 2023 in Hong Kong, this weekend will be all about execution and getting things right as a squad.

"We got a lot of experience back into the squad, so I don't see a problem in us executing this weekend – we want to go out and play and that is very exciting," he said.

"I am really pleased for Grant de Jager, who will make his debut on this trip. I have played with him for the SA Sevens 'A'-side at the Rugby Africa Sevens in Mauritius last year and he impressed me with his ability and work rate, so I think we will see more of that this weekend."