Blitzboks’ Sevens victory feels unreal – coach

UNREAL. That’s how Springbok Sevens coach Neil Powell described the feeling of winning back-to-back World Sevens Series titles.

Powell’s record-breaking team arrived at Cape Town International Airport yesterday after winning the Paris tournament in dramatic fashion on Sunday.

The Blitzboks overcame a tough weekend in France to emerge as champions of the international Sevens circuit again, after claiming the title last year for the first time since the 2008/09 season.

“It’s still feels unreal,” Powell said.

“We had a few challenges to overcome, especially in the last week.

‘‘Going into the last tournament seven points behind Fiji… to be honest I didn’t think it would really be possible to win the World Series.

“Credit to the guys for keeping their focus after that Spain quarter-final.

‘‘We didn’t perform well. But the fact that they knew Fiji was out of the competition and that we could win it… I think their composure and focus was amazing in the last two games.

“Everything fell into place, and I’m just grateful.

“I think it was two special seasons – last year because we dominated the series and won it with a game to go, and this year because we lost so many players (to injury) and exposed new players to the World Series.

‘‘This was probably a more persistent effort. Last year we only used 20 players or so.

“It’s amazing that we used 28 players, a lot of youngsters got their opportunities.

“And that was the goal, not just to win the series but also to develop the new generation of Sevens players.

“I haven’t thought about the World Cup too much yet. We’ll sit down with the medical staff and see who can be available for us for the World Cup.

“But the squad will probably consist of the guys that made up the squad, one or two XVs guys that played Sevens in the past, academy players and guys returning from injury.”