Siviwe Soyizwapi of South Africa fails to stop Vuiviawa Naduvalo of Fiji in their Sevens match in Madrid this weekend. Picture: Borja B Hojas/Getty Images
The Blitzboks’ disappointing showing at the Sevens Grand Final in Madrid ended how it began with Philip Snyman’s team losing to Ireland, for their fourth loss in five matches at the tournament.
Snyman’s team went 12-0 behind and while they scored a try in the second half through Impi Visser, ultimately lost 12-7 to end the tournament in sixth place.
Earlier on the weekend, the Blitzboks lost to Ireland 21-26 to Ireland in their opening game on Friday, while in Saturday they completed their pool play with defeats to New Zealand (24-33) and Fiji (7-26).
In the fifth place semi-final on Sunday they beat Australia 24-21, but then were outplayed in the fifth-sixth place match by Ireland, for the second time in the tournament.
It ended a poor World Rugby Sevens Series for the Blitzboks and they will now turn their attention to arguably the biggest tournament of the year for them, the Sevens Olympic Repechage in Monaco from June 21 to 23.
The Blitzboks are one of 12 teams competing for one spot at the Paris Olympics and will have to win the tournament to qualify.
While they have the history and pedigree to do well, teams like Great Britain, Canada and Spain will also have their eyes on winning and advancing to Paris.
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