The Springbok Sevens bombed in the pool stage of the London Sevens. Now they need to play a qualifying tournament to make it to the Paris Olympics.
Cape Town – The Blitzboks will have to go via the Africa qualifiers if they want to go to the Olympic Games in Paris next year.
Another terrible tournament result at the London Sevens at Twickenham saw the Springbok Sevens go winless in the pool phase, meaning there will be no quarter-final and shot at the title.
Even with some senior players back, for a second tournament in a row, the Blitzboks failed to make an impact to boost their chances of qualifying automatically.
They still struggle to create scoring opportunities like the team did under former coach Neil Powell, while there’s just not enough pace in the side to keep up with the top teams.
Not to be for the #Blitzboks as they are eliminated from the #London7s competition – more here: https://t.co/lrZezTvlGq 😔#BlitzIgnite #HSBC7s pic.twitter.com/WXc4LWw8nz
— Springbok Sevens (@Blitzboks) May 20, 2023
Tackling also let them down, in all three pool games.
New Zealand gave them a drubbing in the final pool match on Saturday evening and won 32-21. NZ Speedster Akuila Rokolisoa scored a first-half hat trick to effectively put the game to bed as the Sevens Series champions in-waiting led 20-0 at the break.
There was an attempt at a fightback in the second half by the Blitzboks, but by then the game was way out of reach already.
Impi Visser, Mfundo Ndhlovu, and Ryan Oosthuizen scored a try each, but a double in the second half by the All Black Sevens’ Xavier Tito-Harris sealed the game for his side.
Earlier on Saturday the Blitzboks drew 26-26 with the USA Sevens and lost to hosts Great Britain (15-19) in the opening pool match.
The South Africans led 19-0 in the first half against the Americans, but a meltdown on defence saw them concede four tries in a space where they could only score once after those three quick tries at the start.
Against the host team, they fought back valiantly after a terrible start. But playing catchup rugby came with a lot of errors that saw them stumble over the first hurdle.
The #Blitzboks will have it all to play for when they face New Zealand later today in their final #London7s pool game – wrap of the action from Twickenham so far: https://t.co/KDGhIERPdM ⚡#BlitzIgnite #HSBC7s pic.twitter.com/x9DzDvWweq
— Springbok Sevens (@Blitzboks) May 20, 2023
It was a disappointing end to the season for the South Africans after they had an early tournament victory in Dubai in December last year when it looked like new coach Sandile Ngcobo’s reign would start on a good foot.
But since then, the team struggled with injuries and inconsistent performances that saw them miss a few playoffs in the series.
It will be back to the drawing board for the team as they look to wrap up London with a win at least on Sunday while shifting their focus to the Africa qualifier later this year.
@Leighton_K
