Powell says ‘tough questions’ will have to be asked after Blitzboks crash in Canada

Blitzboks coach Neil Powell admitted Monday it has been “a tough two weeks” following the SA Sevens team’s latest result at the World Rugby Sevens Series tournament in Vancouver where they finished fifth.

Powell’s men lost their Cup quarter-final to Samoa and had to settle for a place lower down the order. This follows their poor showing in Singapore the week before when they also came unstuck at the quarter-finals stage.

It has been a quite dramatic turn-around for the Blitzboks, who couldn’t go wrong in the earlier tournaments and went on a 36-match unbeaten run before being downed by the USA in pool play in Singapore.

“It was a tough two weeks and not something that we are happy about as a team,” said Powell.

“We will have to ask tough questions of ourselves on what happened and what areas we need to improve on. As individuals, we will have a serious conversation on our performances, but also as a team, where we did not function as we should have.”

Powell though was pleased his team showed fight after being knocked out of the Cup competition to beat France and New Zealand and claim fifth place.

“The way we finished in those last two matches remains a positive, we really turned it around. But that does not detract from those weak moments, and we need to be hard on ourselves to make sure it does not happen in the next two tournaments.”

The squad did not show their usual consistency in performances and Powell said it will need to be addressed: “We had hot and cold moments and sadly those cold ones proved crucial and very costly. It is something we need to look at – the players and the coaching staff alike – to see how and why it happened and what can be done to prevent that.”

Powell pointed to the mental readiness of the squad as well: “This is a physical as well as a mental game and at times we did not mentally respond the way we used to.”

South Africa now lead the World Series by only six points on 111, with Argentina (105) and Australia (100) closing in. The Blitzboks could only harvest 23 league points in the last two tournaments, while Argentina gathered 35 and Australia 34 points over the same period. Three tournaments remain, in Toulouse and London at the end of May, and Los Angeles late in August.

South Africa will face Samoa, Ireland and Spain in Pool D in Toulouse on 20-22 May.