Blitzboks happy to be in Sydney

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 Player of the Year nominee Rosko Specman in their ranks, there’s 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, and the pair will be instrumental for the BlitzBoks in Sydney this weekend.

The SA Sevens side are the holders of the Sydney crown, and for Specman their intention is to finish on the podium, at the very least.

“We are happy to be back in Sydney; the tournament was good for us in the last year or two. We are keen to make amends for what happened in Cape Town, where we tended to be too individual,” said Specman.

“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 accolaide go to his head in a game that requires such faith in a team.

“If I do what is required of me then the individual side of my performance will also benefit. It is the structures that allow the individual to shine, not the other way around,” he added.

Senatla has only a limited time to stamp his mark on this World Series as after the upcoming New Zealand leg, he’ll return to the Stormers to hopefully have a better 15-man season.

“It was not the fairytale I hoped it to be,” admitted Senatla. “I got injured in my first game for the Stormers and then was injured in my first game back again. In the end though, I finished on a high note, winning the Currie Cup. When I returned to Sevens, it was easy to slot back in.

“The team environment has been great as always and I have been given wonderful opportunities. It demands the best of your abilities and that is a great foundation taking that into fifteens.”