It’s a great chance for the Blitzboks rookies to stand tall in Vancouver

JOHANNESBURG: After failing to hit their high standards in Las Vegas last weekend the Blitzboks are desperate to get back on the winning track at the Vancouver Sevens tournament this weekend.

Neil Powell’s men finished a distant fourth last Sunday in the US – one of their more disappointing performances this season – but remained out in front in the World Sevens Series standings, 10 points ahead of New Zealand.

This week Powell will again bank on a few seasoned campaigners to lead his team, with the Blitzboks hit hard by injuries. He is also hopeful the experience gained last weekend will stand his rookie players in good stead in Canada this weekend.

“We are looking for consistency and given the number of new faces (in the squad) and some injuries, we did well in that regard (in Las Vegas),” said Powell. “We don’t always measure ourselves on the results, but in the way we play, and obviously we will have to improve in Vancouver, but our depth has been tested nicely.”

The rookies who’ll have to stand up this weekend include Ryan Oosthuizen, (five tournaments), Zain Davids (eight), Selvyn Davids (two), Stedman Gans (seven), Marco Labuschagne (one) and Muller du Plessis (one).

Senior player Ruhan Nel, who has 25 tournaments behind him, is confident the Blitzboks will again stand tall this week. “We slipped up in Las Vegas and we know what we did wrong, so we are keen to get back on the field and rectify those mistakes. There is no reason why we cannot do that and be successful again,” Nel said.

Another senior, Kyle Brown, who’s been on the world circuit for a decade, also felt the talented youngsters would step up this week. “They would have learned valuable lessons last weekend ... they were thrown in the deep end and swam pretty strongly. This week we have another opportunity and need to back-up the positives from last week,” Brown said.

Branco du Preez, a veteran of 58 tournaments, added: “We need to get back to zero, like we always do. We know our processes and systems work, so we just need to remind ourselves about that.”

Powell’s men have played in the Vancouver final on the last two occasions – losing to England last year, and coming unstuck against New Zealand in 2016.

This week’s tournament will be played on Saturday and Sunday (overnight SA time) and the Blitzboks are in Pool D with New Zealand, Scotland and Russia.