The Springboks Sevens team could only manage a sixth-place finish at the Hong Kong Sevens on Sunday, while the Springboks Women’s Sevens counterparts failed to register a win at the tournament. This after Fiji defeated the Blitzboks 33-14 in their last match at the tournament to finish at sixth-place, which is a big improvement on their 11th-place finish at the previous tournament in Los Angeles.The Blitzboks were knocked out of the tournament on Saturday when they lost 15-0 in the quarterfinals against Australia.
There were expectations when the team performed well in their pool phases, by defeating Ireland 22-17, Samoa 26-7, and Spain 24-10, but encountered a mixture of misfortune and ill-discipline against Australia, which included a red card, injury, and suspension. “We trained hard back home in Stellenbosch and have scenarios like this worked into the sessions.We were just not good enough in this match and that is very disappointing. We did not play 100% to our potential, that was our problem, not the numbers,” said stand-in Captain Zain Davids after the Aussie match.
His comments were echoed by Springboks Sevens interim-coach, Philip Snyman, who called for an improved performance in their next tournament. “I am going to use the next couple of weeks to test more combinations and see how that work for us.We will have to work on staying calm in those big moments, so we will look at the compilation of the squad and individuals who can stay calm under pressure,” stressed Snyman. Despite the disappointment, the Blitzboks qualified for the Grand Final of the reimagined HSBC Sevens in Madrid at the end of May.
Meanwhile, the misery also continued for the Springboks Women’s Sevens side, as they failed to register a win at the sixth tournament of the 2024 series and finished in last place. The team was outplayed 28-0 by Australia in their final pool match, lost 15-14 against Great Britain in the ninth-place play-off match, whereby the team had a chance to win the match but was bundled out of touch. “Those are moments that cost us dearly.One would expect a side to score in situations like that, but we just could not execute in that moment. We were in a good position to win the match and then executed poorly and that is frustrating.
The good part of the growth is that we came so close, and the team will be better for it,” said assistant Coach, Cecil Afrika.The team lost 17-14 against Spain for the final place at the tournament. The Blitzboks will now be involved in the play-off tournament when the series concludes in Madrid in May, after it failed to finish in the eight of the overall series. Despite the disappointment, Africa said the team has improved each game and that the coaching staff is pleased with such progress.
