Powell says disappointed Blitzboks must finish World Cup on a high

A disappointed Blitzboks team will be looking to bounce back from a dreadful performance in the Sevens World Cup quarterfinals that saw them dumped out of the running by Ireland, and will want to finish the tournament on a high as they now battle it out on the fifth to eighth place playoffs.

A packed crowd at the Cape Town Stadium were stunned into silence on Saturday night, as Ireland put in a sublime performance and the Blitzboks an abject one as the Irish claimed a 24-14 win.

It ended the Blitzboks hopes of giving long serving coach Neil Powell the perfect send off, with them now hoping to at least let him leave on a win, with them first having to beat Argentina, and then the winner of the Samoa v France match in the afternoon.

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“We will have to come back tomorrow and show that the badge and the jersey still mean something to the team,” said Powell, after the Irish loss.

“We will have to do our homework for the Argentina match and come out and do the work. They are a tough team that are hard to break down and they keep fighting until the end, so we need to make sure we play for 14 minutes and be a lot more clinical.”

Commenting on the poor performance that saw them knocked out of the running for the title at the quarterfinal stage, Powell admitted that the team’s lack of execution cost them

“It is all about momentum which you create by using your opportunities. We did not do that because we did not use those opportunities and then you are going to find it hard to pull that game back, like we saw tonight,” explained Powell.

 “The basic errors from players tonight were not expected, like not finding touch, not winning lineouts, throwing passes into touch – those were errors that were not expected from the players, but that happened unfortunately. They are normally a lot more clinical in the execution of their skill sets.”

Poor game plan management

Blitzbok player Ronald Brown also voiced his disappointment at the team’s performance, explaining that they were unable to stick to their game plan against a bullish Irish team.

 “It was not the way we wanted to end, I think Ireland kept us under pressure and they took their opportunities,” said Brown.

“We had a plan and didn’t execute it, actually. We weren’t accurate in the plan that we wanted to do. I think Ireland kept the ball really nicely, they played off our mistakes and at this level if you keep the ball for four or five phases you will walk over the line eventually.

“It’s always sore losing in front of a home crowd, especially this one. The World Cup is quite big for us, so it’s disappointing considering all the preparation and hard work that went into it. But as a team we do like to bounce back and we take each game as it comes and will definitely focus on Argentina.”