Can Blitzboks recover from worst ever World Sevens Series showing?

A miserable season for the Blitzboks ended in disappointment with a ninth place finish at the London Sevens over the past weekend.

It confirmed their worst ever finish on the World Sevens Series as they ended the season in seventh place, which also ruled them out of automatic qualification for the 2024 Olympic Sevens.

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Since the World Sevens Series started in 1999, the Blitzboks worst ever showing was a sixth place finish in the 2009/10 season.

Their other finishes on the series saw them claim fifth place four times, fourth four times, third once, the runner-up spot on nine occasions and they have been named champions four times.

They had however never finished outside of the top six, until this season, which was the first under former Blitzbok player Sandile Ngcobo, who took over from the most decorated Blitzbok coach Neil Powell, last year.

 Part of the team’s struggles can be attributed to the transition from Powell, who was an extremely influential and popular figure for many years, to the young Ngcobo, who at 33 years old is essentially cutting his coaching teeth on the biggest sevens stage.

In decline

But the Blitzboks had been in decline, even last season, where a very tumultuous season ended with Commonwealth Games gold, a second place finish on the Sevens Series and a seventh place finish at the Sevens World Cup in Cape Town.

Part of the blame definitely has to go to the South African Rugby Union (SARU), who seem to have lost interest in the Blitzboks, with many Sevens stars choosing to play 15s permanently instead.

It is understandable if a player wants to play in the more lucrative 15s game, but SARU should try their utmost to keep them available for sevens tournaments as well, but they have not done this.

The one shining light of the Blitzboks season was Ricky Duartee, who made his debut in the opening tournament in Hong Kong and consistently impressed over the campaign to eventually be named World Sevens Rookie of the Year.

The Blitzboks now have to pick themselves up and target the Africa Olympic Qualifier, taking place in Harare in September, where they will be heavy favourites to qualify for the Olympics, but will have to keep an eye on fellow World Sevens Series regulars Kenya.