Blitzboks enter iconic Twickenham with a positive mindset

The Springbok Sevens team will complete their 2023 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series journey with a positive mindset and an urgency to deliver a performance that the team and all their supporters can be proud of.

That is the view of Blitzbok captain Siviwe Soyizwapi as the squad finished their preparations for the HSBC London Sevens, which will be played at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday and Sunday.

According to the Soyizwapi, who will play in his 51^st World Series tournament, their preparations this week created the positive mindset.

Keeping the positive & correcting mistakes

“We only looked at what worked in Toulouse and used those positives to get into the right mindset for London,” said Soyizwapi.

“The mistakes we made were pretty consistent to those we made during the series, so it is just a matter of continuing to work on them. But it was the positives that drove us this week and actually motivated us with one more tournament to go on the World Series.

“We came here disappointed because of Toulouse and the slip-ups we had, but once we focussed on the good things we did, the mindset changed quickly.”

Soyizwapi said the Blitzboks are ready: “We are playing at Twickenham, a stadium with a massive history where many iconic battles took place.

“For any English player, as their home of rugby, it is a dream to play at the venue, so we will embrace that we can also do it and hope to make memorable memories in doing so. The World Series has become so competitive, it is almost fitting that it finishes in an iconic stadium.”

Soyizwapi said they are keen to have one more go this weekend.

“The guys who came into the squad will be better having played last week and the fact that, unlike almost every other tour so far, we did not have to fly in injury replacements will give us some consistency this weekend,” he said.

One final spot for next year’s Olympic Games in Paris remains, with Australia (125) holding a nine-point cushion over Samoa and South Africa (116). Australia enter the competition on Saturday as defending champions.

Here’s how it could play out:

● If Australia finish fifth or better this weekend, they will qualify.

● If Samoa or South Africa win the Cup final, and Australia finish sixth or worse, the winning team will qualify.

● South Africa or Samoa could also qualify if they finished 10 points higher than Australia in the London standings.

● If two teams are tied on log points after London, it will come down to points for and against on the entire series, which is currently: Samoa +423, Australia +376 and South Africa +156.