Powell reflects on golden era as he bids farewell to Blitzboks

His golden reign as national sevens coach came to a disappointing end in Cape Town during the Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament at the weekend, where the Blitzboks finished seventh, but for Neil Powell, the nine years at the helm of one of South Africa’s most popular sports teams remained a “time he will never regret”.

The Blitzboks had an up-and-down day on Sunday, losing their fifth-place playoff to Argentina before bouncing back in style with a comprehensive dismantling of Samoa in the seventh-place playoff.

Afterwards, Powell reflected on his career, first as a player and captain for the Blitzboks and then as coach.

During his nine-year career as Springbok Sevens coach, they won three World Rugby Sevens Series titles, and in the 75 World Series tournaments he presided over the team, they played in 37 Cup Finals, winning 22. The Blitzboks also won two Commonwealth Games gold medals and claimed bronze medals at the Olympic Games in 2016, and the previous Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2018.

Remembering the wins

The only person in Rugby Sevens who has a World Series gold medal as player and coach among his accolades, Powell reflected on a number of highlights in his career of over 15 years as a player and a coach.

“I would like to remember the wins, like our very first one in the World Series in Wellington, my very first one in South Africa as a coach, when we won in the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium only a couple of days after President Mandela had passed away, and of course the World Series wins, especially the second one in 2018, when we beat England in the last game of the series to be crowned champions,” said Powell, who will begin his new role as director of rugby at the Sharks later this month.

“Then the Commonwealth gold wins also, but the thing I will treasure most will be the human beings I coached. I saw many of them develop into fantastic people and that was more important than gold.”

The fairytale ending – South Africa winning gold on home soil in his last tournament – did not materialise, but for the coach, there were no regrets.

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“We had a great time as a squad, with ninety percent more ups than downs,” he said.

“Sadly, this weekend and tournament will be remembered as one of the downs and it is not something that will get out of the memory bank soon.”