Have the Blitzboks turned a corner or is this another false dawn?

A strong start to the 2024-25 Sevens World Series has raised hopes that the Blitzboks have turned the corner after a difficult couple of years, but it could very well be a false dawn as has been the case in previous seasons.

The national team were dumped out in the quarter-finals of the season opening tournament in Dubai, going on to finish sixth overall, but they bounced back in style in their home tournament over the weekend by picking up their first Cape Town Sevens title since 2015.

This sees them currently sitting third on the series log, behind table topping Fiji and second placed Spain, with four events left before the season ending tournament taking place in Los Angeles at the start of May.

Over the past few seasons the Blitzboks have flattered to deceive and they will need to back up this start with good performances in the next two events in Perth and Vancouver to prove that they truly have turned the corner.

The SA side enjoyed close to a decade of superb form in the Sevens Series, since the 2012-13 season, as they either won or finished as runners-up in every season, barring 2018-19 when they finished fourth, while the Covid-shortened 2021 series was their last triumph.

Good start, poor finish

The 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons then saw the Blitzboks start well before falling apart spectacularly.

In the 2021-22 season the Blitzboks stunningly won the first four events, but then didn’t finish higher than fifth over the next five tournaments to unbelievably be pipped to the title by Australia, who won just one event that season but were far more consistent.

The 2022-23 campaign saw the Blitzboks win the second event in Dubai, but then only finish second in one other event, while struggling in the rest as they ended the season in seventh.

It was a similar affair in the 2023-24 season, winning the opener in Dubai, before finishing sixth once and below that over the rest of the tournaments, for another seventh-place finish overall.

Their poor form over those two seasons also led to the Blitzboks not automatically qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games, while they also lost in the Africa Sevens final to Kenya, which meant they had to qualify by winning the Olympic Repechage tournament, which they managed to do.

A bronze medal at the Paris Games, followed by a sixth-place finish in Dubai and triumph in Cape Town, hints at more consistent form from the team and hopefully they can build on that over the rest of the season.