Blitzboks pin hopes on ‘two teams’ as one
Blitzboks coach Neil Powell’s message to a squad split evenly between the “second stringers” from Hong Kong and the “first team” who did duty at the Commonwealth Games is to “play as a team”, writes Craig Ray.
Powell’s decision to pick two separate squads for Hong Kong and the Gold Coast delivered mixed results.
It has left SA in a small crisis of confidence as they prepare for the Singapore leg of the World Sevens Series at the weekend. The callow group did admirably in Hong Kong‚ ending third and maintaining SA’s lead at the top of the World Series standings.
The experienced group of seasoned campaigners failed to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games.
This weekend six players from each group form the Blitzboks squad for the eighth round of the 10-leg series.
“We have one group of guys who are very keen to maintain their form from Hong Kong and show they deserve a permanent spot in the team‚ and another group itching to redeem themselves after the disappointment of Australia‚” Powell said.
“It is great to have 12 players all wanting to prove a point; the danger will be if they wanted to do so as individuals. So the message is a simple one: play as a team and we will achieve more.
“We always knew that three tournaments in four weeks would be really taxing‚ hence the decision to send different teams to Hong Kong and Gold Coast and then combine them for Singapore. I am happy that we have a lot of energy in the squad for this weekend.”
Powell is also satisfied that the combinations will not be a problem in Singapore. “Only two guys did not go to Las Vegas and Vancouver‚ Heino [Bezuidenhout] and James [Murphy]‚ so we should not have a problem with the team playing together as a unit‚” Powell said.
“It is a tough tournament and in recent years the likes of Samoa‚ Kenya and Canada have won here while the leading teams struggled.”
Powell said their focus would be on the way they play.
“We will try to implement what we want to achieve and the results will look after themselves‚” Powell said.