Specman: Blitzboks are keen to make amends
DURBAN: The Blitzboks can put a lot of their recent success, including a World Series win last year, down to the firepower and pure pace they have outside. With the likes of 2016 World Sevens Player of the Year Seabelo Senatla and 2017 World Player of the Year nominee Rosko Specman in their ranks, there is no wanting for skill or speed.
Senatla and Specman have shot to prominence in Sevens in the past few years, with the Stormers man racking up milestones as he goes along. Senatla became the quickest player to reach 200 tries in the World Series, picking them up in just 35 tournaments.
Specman has earned a reputation for not only his blistering pace, but also his creativity and ability to put the likes of Sentala away for tries.
The pair will be instrumental for the Blitzboks as the World Series resumes in Sydney this weekend.
The South African Sevens team are the defending champions in Sydney, and for Specman their intention is to finish on the podium, at the very least, this weekend.
“We are happy to be back in Sydney – the tournament was good for us in the last year or two,” Specman said.
“We are keen as a squad to make amends for what happened in Cape Town, where we tended to be too individual. We need to make sure we stay within our structures. We’ve seen in the past that if we do that, we will be successful.”
Specman received some of the individual praise with his nomination, but is not one to showboat or let that accolade go to his head in a game that requires faith in the team.
“If I do what is required of me then the individual side of my performance will also benefit. It is the structures that allows the individual to shine, not the other way around,” Specman said.
Senatla has only a limited time to stamp his mark on the Series as, after the upcoming New Zealand leg, he will be returning to the Stormers to hopefully have a better 15-man season.
“It was not the fairy tale I hoped it to be,” admitted Senatla. “In the end though, I finished on a high note, winning the Currie Cup.”
SA begin their defence with a game against Papua New Guinea on Friday, before finishing off their group-stage games against Spain and England the following day.