The Blitzboks had a measured start to the Rio Olympics, but captain Kyle Brown was glad to see his team “pushing the line-speed” on day one at the Deodoro Stadium.
The South Africans managed to avoid any hiccups on Tuesday, unlike New Zealand, who were shocked by Japan 14-12 and lost Sonny Bill Williams and Joe Webber for the rest of the tournament in the process.
New Zealand media outlets reported on Wednesday that Williams’ Achilles’ tendon rupture is like to see him miss the Rugby Championships for the All Blacks as well and may keep him sidelined for between six and nine months.
Fortunately, the Springbok Sevens didn’t lose any players to injury on the first day of action, and could even afford to leave the likes of Seabelo Senatla and Cheslin Kolbe on the bench for their second match against France, whom they beat 26-0 after getting past Spain 24-0 in the opener.
Whereas the Blitzboks kept things simple and were a bit inaccurate with their passing in the heat of the Rio afternoon against Spain, they showed better cohesion in the French clash and greater intensity on defence. Kwagga Smith, Juan de Jongh and Tim Agaba were physical on defence and forced handling errors from France, who it must be said were rather one-dimensional on attack.
However, Blitzbok skipper Brown felt that they improved in their second match and hope to take it to the next level in their final Pool B game against Australia Wednesday (4.30pm SA time kickoff).
“Coming into this tournament, we always knew it was going to be a tricky pool. Spain coming through that Monaco qualifying and playing some great rugby to keep out Samoa, Ireland and Canada from competing at the Olympics…” Brown said afterwards.
“And then to play against France – I suppose the biggest success factor was our defence. It was a good step up from the first game to the second game, and pushing the line-speed.
“France are a great team, lethal on attack, so it was important for us to take that first kickoff and that’s exactly what we spoke about – from the moment we heard that we are receiving the ball first, our number-one job was to take that ball from the kickoff. From there, we have enough spark in our backline to make a difference.”
Playmaker Cecil Afrika was particularly effective, scoring two tries against Spain, while Kwagga Smith, Cheslin Kolbe and Seabelo Senatla showed some good pace.
Coach Neil Powell echoed Brown’s sentiments, stating that his team were “a little bit rusty” against Spain, but had become more efficient as the games wore on and kept clean-sheets in both.
But things start hotting up on Wednesday as the Blitzboks will face Australia, and if they top Pool B, their quarter-final will be at 11.30pm SA time on the same day against the best third-placed team out of the three pools.
One area which didn’t function smoothly for the South Africans was the lineout, with the French tapping the ball away a few times against the throw. Brown wasn’t too worried, though.
“There were one or two infringements here and there, but I mean, we’ve just got to go back to the basics again. Take a bit of analysis, and I don’t think it’s too much of a concern,” he said.
“Australia will be looking to fight back incredibly hard after losing to France this morning. I think they will hit their stride going into day two, so let’s just hope that we get better and start to play our best rugby.”
@ashfak.mohamed
Independent Media