The Blitzboks will look to make history when they take the field at the Hong Kong Sevens this weekend.
No South African team has ever won the three-day event, seen as the biggest prize on the Sevens World Series calendar.
But 13th man for the tournament, Chris Dry, says there is no added pressure on the team to claim gold.
For that reason they won’t do anything different in the build-up to the tournament.
Dry explains: “It is a three-day tournament starting on Friday, so it is a short turnaround for us, but we will be keeping things fairly simple to start with.
PREPARED: Renfred Dazel. Photo: Fred Greaves/Reuters.
“I am the 13th player this time around, so my first task is not on the field, but rather off it.
“For now I will be doing my best to assist Siviwe [Soyizwapi] as captain and guide the younger players where needed. I will also make sure they are kept honest on the training pitch.”
He adds: “You get the same log points here than anywhere else, so from that perspective it is all the same.
“There is a lot of hype, yes, and for many this is one tournament you want to play, but we are not going to make this one bigger than the rest.”
Assistant coach Renfred Dazel adds: “We have a number of new guys, so we need to be careful not to overload them with information at this stage.
“We will get into our normal prep early and let the guys settle in before we fine-tune ahead of our first match on Friday.”