Blitzboks insist World Sevens title is far from sewn up

Springbok Sevens coach, Neil Powell, knows that the Blitzboks will have to endure another huge physical test when the Vancouver Sevens kicks off on Saturday, but expects the mental challenge to his side to be even greater.

With the Blitzboks victorious in 28 of their 30 matches played in this season to date, the target on their backs are getting bigger.

England, who handed South Africa their only two defeats, will loom large as their biggest threat in pool A.

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The Vancouver event is also the second in as many weeks, with bumps and bruises a natural consequence after some bruising matches in Las Vegas.

As a result the Blitzboks will have to make do without their one of their leading points’ scorers this season, Justin Geduld, who injured his ankle last weekend in Las Vegas.

To Powell though, the biggest threat is his side’s mental focus, not the loss of key players.

“Unfortunately there’s a lot of talk that we have the series sewn up, which couldn’t be further from the truth,” said Powell.

“One bad tournament, where you don’t make the semi-finals, could derail our momentum significantly. The last thing I want to players to think of is a fifth tournament win or our lead in the series and getting ahead of themselves. We dare not to look past Chile in that first pool game.”

Chile has interestingly won the only encounter played between the two sides, by 28-21 in a pool match at Punta del Este in Uruguay in 2000.

“I don’t have to spell out how dangerous Kenya and England can be, so if we are not on top of our game, we could not even make the quarters,” Powell warned.

“We did a solid review of our performance in Las Vegas and realised how many things we can still do better. We did some good things, but not enough to excuse us from working hard again this week to fine tune our game.”

At the halfway mark of the ten-tournament series, the Blitzboks (107) hold a 24-point lead over Fiji (83), with England (81) close behind the Olympic gold medal winners.

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