“We did not execute the game plan – the bodies were still sore after last weekend and that perhaps contributed to the poor effort”
Daylight savings time kicked in in Canada yesterday, but the resetting of clocks in Vancouver wasn’t nearly as dramatic as the way in which the Springbok Sevens team picked up the pace after a slow start to ease in the top eight of the Canada Sevens.
By the time you read this report, the tournament result will have been confirmed, but the Blitzboks had turned up the heat to set up a quarter-final clash against the USA last night (SA time), after a hugely impressive 38-0 win over England in their final Pool A clash on the opening day at BC Place, and on the back of a hat-trick of tries by Muller du Plessis.
The flying winger scored twice in the first half and got his third in the second half as the Blitzboks finally showed the form they needed to not only defend their title in Vancouver, but also go back-to-back in the World Rugby Sevens Series after last weekend’s tournament win in Los Angeles.
But before the clinical victory over England, the Blitzboks were slow out of the blocks against Japan (12-0) and Argentina (17-5).
Springbok Sevens assistant coach, Renfred Dazel, described those two matches as “probably the worst two matches we have played all season” and said the team showed great determination to come back the way they did against England.
“We did not execute the game plan – the bodies were still sore after last weekend and that perhaps contributed to the poor effort,” said Dazel.
“We did our best to get the guys well prepared for the first day, but it took a while for them to get going. The match against USA will be a new ball game again, as they will be much better than last week, I am sure.”
Last weekend, the Blitzboks edged the Americans 12-10 in the quarter-finals of the HSBC LA Sevens.
On Saturday, two first half tries against Japan saw the South Africans lead 12-0 at the break and in a frustrating second half effort, the Blitzboks battled to find momentum and were left scoreless by the Japanese.
The Blitzboks were again sluggish early in the match against Argentina, with both teams scoring a solitary try in the opening half. The second half performance was much-improved performance, with two well-worked tries easing the team to the win.
England, who earlier scored big wins against Japan and Argentina, were blown away by the Blitzboks in their clash. No less than six tries were scored by the rampant South African side, with Muller du Plessis – who scored against Japan and Argentina as well – getting three in the process to end the day with five tries.
“It was a good feeling, especially as they came of good play by the guys on the inside, which made it easy for me,” said Du Plessis, who was also pleased that the team found their groove against England.
“The first two matches were not good and we could not get the momentum needed to launch our style of play. We realised that we were not playing to our structures and once we did, the result came.”
SA Rugby
