Hurt Blitzboks rue missed opportunities in Hong Kong

Springbok Sevens coach Sandile Ngcobo said missed opportunities contributed hugely to the disappointing performance of the Blitzboks at the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens and that lessons learned at the tournament will be addressed. 

Ngcobo acknowledged the squad did not play to their best and said it hurt that they missed the opportunities created during their five matches at the Hong Kong Stadium, with defeats against Fiji and Argentina on the final day contributing to a disappointing outing.

“It was missed opportunities and that hurt, as we worked hard to create those, only to not capitalise on them,” said Ngcobo. 

“It is our first tournament together and the players might not be on top of their roles and responsibilities yet, but that is something we can work on and improve. We just did not finish games off.”

Ngcobo said they will be better for the experience and admitted that it was not the ideal start to his coaching tenure.

“We need to take a hard look at ourselves, players as well as management, admit our mistakes and make sure we rectify them,” he said. 

“We need to do the basics first and then we can express ourselves and show our individual brilliance. This is the level we want to compete at, and then to not perform hurts. We will be better after this.” 

Blitzboks forward Impi Visser said the team did not use their lifeline of getting into the quarter-finals, where they were beaten by Fiji. 

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“Normally, if you lose two pool games, you are out of the knock-outs, but we got lucky yesterday when some results went our way,” said Visser. 

“So, to not make use of that opportunity today is very disappointing. It is not a nice feeling to end the tournament like this.”

Visser said the opportunities missed against Fiji in the quarter-final frustrated the Blitzboks, adding that there is no time feeling sorry for themselves. 

“We had six or seven opportunities to score and did not use them, that is frustrating,” he said.

“We need to have an honest look at ourselves after this performance and make sure we bounce back stronger. The margins are tight, but giving away possession is just not good enough. We need to get better; we are not playing at our potential and that is so frustrating. We are letting ourselves down.

“We need to start working as soon as we get back home as the next tournament is only weeks away. We cannot accept this as our standard.”

The next tournament is the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens, to be played from 1-3 December.