South Africa still haunted by Japan defeat
Dubai champions won’t take anyone lightly after one of rugby’s greatest upsets in the World Cup
South Africa’s shock recent Rugby World Cup opening defeat to Japan will serve as a warning to the country’s Sevens side as they kick-off their Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens title defence at the Sevens Stadium today.
The Springboks lost 34-32 to the Cherry Blossoms in one of rugby’s greatest upsets in England in September.
Despite the setback, Heyneke Meyer’s side went on to top their group and reached the semi-finals, where they lost to eventual champions New Zealand 20-18 before beating Argentina 24-13 in the third place play-off.
But it’s the embarrassment of that first game that still haunts Blitzbokkes’ coach Neil Powell as his side prepares to face Samoa, Russia and Scotland in Pool B in Dubai.
“We’re defending champions, but we wouldn’t like to see ourselves as favourites as we know nothing that we did in the past will help us in this tournament,” said Powell.
“Our first game is against Samoa and they are always tough to play, so if you are not up for that game you will find yourself on the wrong side of a result.
Russian challenge
“Then we have Russia, and as we saw in the World Cup and are painfully reminded, we lost against Japan. So, we can’t go up against Russia thinking they will be easy.
“In sevens it just takes one bounce of a ball or the call of the referee and you can get yourself in trouble. Russia are also tough and haven’t yet qualified to the Olympics so they will want to build and improve. And lastly we face Scotland who are always exciting and try to keep the ball alive and outwit their opponents. It will be an interesting pool where we will have to be up for every single game, but the focus must be on that first match against Samoa,” he added.
World Rugby Sevens Series defending champions Fiji are also wary of their group opponents as they face Canada, Japan and Argentina in Pool A.
“Canada have got a huge amount of experience with over 300-odd test match caps, so they will be a handful,” said Fiji coach Ben Ryan. “Physically they are very good and have just come off the back of the World Cup, so that’s going to be tough.