Blitzbokke shift focus to Olympics
...but, "we need to qualify first before we can start talking about the Olympics" — Powell.
After making history by claiming gold against New Zealand in the Sevens final of the Commonwealth Games, the Springbok Sevens will begin their pursuit of Olympic silverware.
The Blitzbokke made history by beating the All Blacks for the first time since the induction of the Rugby Sevens sporting codes in 1998.
“It is an important tournament win for us as a Springbok Sevens team. This will mean a lot for us going into the next season and going into the Olympics in 2016,” said coach Neil Powell.
“It is always great to beat the All Blacks in a final and it was a tough one, the guys really worked hard to win that one. Credit to my boys. It is an honour and a privilege to represent your country and to win in the Commonwealth Games is special and means a lot to us.”
Focus will now shift to the Sevens World Series where qualification to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games will be up for grabs, in which the top four teams at the end of the series will automatically qualify for the 12 spots available.
“We will have a bit of a break for one or two weeks and then we will start to prepare for the new season starting in middle October,” added the coach.
“It is our qualifications season, so we need to end in the top four. We need to qualify first before we can start talking about the Olympic Games.”
