OPINION: Slight improvement but Blitzboks still missing that killer instinct

The Blitzboks have undoubtedly made improvements since the recent coaching shake up in their ranks saw Sandile Ngcobo step aside and his assistant Philip Snyman take over, but they still lack that killer instinct that was a trademark of their golden years.

After a ninth placed finish at the Vancouver Sevens and second from bottom finish at the LA Sevens, the Blitzboks seemed to be in freefall, which led to Ngcobo falling on his sword.

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Since that change the Blitzboks have clinched two sixth placed finishes in Hong Kong and this past weekend in Singapore to show an upward trend.

But they have fallen at the first knockout hurdle in both tournaments, proving that they haven’t completely turned the corner and still have a lot of work to do.

In Hong Kong and Singapore the Blitzboks impressively finished on top of their pool by winning all of their group games, but lost in the quarterfinals against Australia in both events.

They have then gone on to lose the fifth/sixth placed playoff against Fiji in Hong Kong and Argentina in Singapore respectively, making for disappointing ends to both tournaments after they had shown such promise during the pool phase.

Key players

Where the Blitzboks have been bolstered is by the return of some key players who had missed the North American leg of the Sevens series through injury.

Ahead of the Hong Kong event the Blitzboks welcomed back Christie Grobbelaar, Ronald Brown, Dewald Human and Quewin Nortje, while before the Singapore event, veterans Dylan Sage and Siviwe Soyizwapi returned to the fold.

This has arguably made a big impact on their turnaround in fortunes and will continue to do so if they keep their squad fully fit over the rest of the season.

However, unless the Blitzboks receive major reinforcements, they are unlikely to be a threat at the Olympic Games in France in July and August.

Earlier in the year it was reported that SA Rugby were looking at bringing in Stormers star Hacjivah Dayimani and former Blitzbok stars Werner Kok, JC Pretorius, Angelo Davids and Stedman Gans, among others, into the mix for the Olympic qualifier and games.

They will indeed need to try and bring in a few of those players if they want to realistically have a chance of making a run at the Olympic Games to finish their season on a massive high.