Blitzboks’ magic beats England
SOUTH Africa claimed their third tournament win of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 201617 after beating England 29-14 in Sydney yesterday.
The Blitzboks, competing in their fourth consecutive final on the world series, beat rivals England in what was a repeat of the Cape Town final in December to cement their position at the top of the world series standings.
Their three wins from four is the best series start for a side since New Zealand in 2008, who won five tournaments in a row.
HSBC Player of the Final Seabelo Senatla, who now leaves the Blitzboks to join the 15s game, said: “It is incredible. The guys are just magicians, hats off to them, I am just the finisher of the moves.”
The series now moves to Las Vegas next month for the fifth round of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, which again joins up with the women’s series. – ANA
NO WONDER Springbok Sevens coach Neil Powell was “pleased and proud” after the Blitzboks gained sweet revenge over England yesterday.
South Africa beat England 29-14 in the final of the Sydney leg of the World Sevens Series to bag their third tournament win this season.
The Blitzboks fell to England in the final of the Cape Town leg and also on Day One in Sydney, so they would have enjoyed the win over England.
The Blitzboks had a firing start to the Cup final and didn’t give England a chance to do any danger, as the South Africans used potent attack and superb handling, solid defence and quick ground work to keep the Cape Town winners out of the game.
Powell’s men also scored three unanswered tries in the first half and got two more in the second, while England added some respectability to their scoreboard with two tries.
“I am very happy with the performance today, especially the way we turned it around from yesterday. I was a bit worried after yesterday, as we did not play well, but now I am very pleased and proud,” Powell smiled.
“It was also pleasing beating England the way we did in the final,” Powell said.
The Blitzboks also showed a much-improved performance in the final, after unconvincing outings against Kenya and England on Day One, celebrated backto-back wins, their first in Australasia, after also taking the Cup in Welling last weekend.
“It is always going to be special to win the double. Not many teams have achieved that, so it feels good.
“Another pleasing aspect for me is the fact that we are winning finals. Last year we only won one of four and so far three of four. “We wanted to make a mind shift there and it seems to work at the moment.”
With England being the only team to have beaten the South Africans twice this year, Powell said that the Blitzboks had to shift their focus.
“Yes, our two defeats this year came against England, but this time our focus was right. We decided to focus on what we need to do and not so much on what we expect England to do. We decided what we wanted out of the game and the guys kept their focus. We controlled the game from the first minute to the last and that is very pleasing,” Powell revealed.
The Blitzboks mentor, who has spoken a lot about bringing youngsters into the game, again emphasised how important the introduction of new guys will be this season, especially with Seabelo Senatla and Kwagga Smith joining the Stormers and the Lions for their Super Rugby campaigns respectively.
“We need to find replacements for Kwagga and Seabelo and will get some youngsters in. In three weeks’ time we will be in Las Vegas already, so we will have to manage the guys well in the next couple of weeks.”
The team has spoken a lot about how vital it was that each man do his part for the team, and Powell reiterated how important that was to the side.
“It had to be a team effort and the whole squad contributed. That is important in our culture, that no one is more important than the other, but that we need to work together for each other.
Point scorers: South Africa: Tries: Philip Snyman, Seabelo Senatla, Justin Geduld (2), Stephan Dippenaar Conversions: Branco du Preez (2) England: Tries: Tom Mitchell, Dan Norton. Conversions Mitchell (2).