Dubai: South Africa, traditionally one of the strongest performers at the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens, are eager to put the heartbreak of the 2013 final behind them as they aim to go all the way when the action kicks off at The Sevens Stadium in less than two weeks’ time.
The Blitzboks lost 17-29 to Fiji here in 2013, and have once again marked out the Islanders as the team to beat in this edition, following Fiji’s stunning winning performances in the Oceania Sevens and in Round 1 of the 2014-15 HSBC Sevens World Series at the Gold Coast.
The Springbok Sevens also finished second behind New Zealand in the overall World Series standings last season, and are looking to go one better this time around.
Speaking about their goals, Coach Neil Powell said: “It is a big season for all the teams, and we realise that we can’t afford to look too far ahead. A lot of our focus last year was to get some consistency back, and that will be one of our major aims again this year. We are working hard on the basics, and I believe that if we can achieve our team goals, then the results will look after themselves.”
Just how high the South Africans are setting the bar can be gauged by their ‘disappointment’ with their fourth place finish at the Gold Coast. After defeating Wales, Kenya and American Samoa in Pool B, they trumped hosts Australia 12-10 in a memorable Cup quarter-final clash. However, the high of that win was tempered by a shock 12-28 loss to Samoa in the Semi-Finals and then a 0-19 drubbing at the hands of England in the play-off for third and fourth place.
Assessing their Gold Coast outing, Powell said: “It was a close affair and we had to work hard to beat Australia, but we were not pleased with our overall performance. We had some niggles going into the tournament, and some players joined us late because of provincial commitment, but that is no excuse for our below-par performances on Day 2. Our decision-making was off the mark, and we made a lot of handling errors. We have been working hard over the past few weeks at our training base in Stellenbosch, and have also added some new faces to our training squad, so I expect an improvement in Dubai.”
What has frustrated the South African players, fans and team-management is the spate of injuries and niggles suffered by their key players. That has prevented them from fielding full-strength sides consistently, and is a factor that could become critical if the nation is to stay strong in its quest to finish in the top four of the overall World Series table, and thereby qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
