Blitzbokke ‘close door’ on Wellington

Cape Town. 121215. Cheslin Kolbe of South Africa is tackled by Collins Injera of Kenya during their HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series at the Cape Town Stadium. Picture Leon Lestrade

Cape Town. 121215. Cheslin Kolbe of South Africa is tackled by Collins Injera of Kenya during their HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series at the Cape Town Stadium. Picture Leon Lestrade

Published Feb 4, 2016

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Cape Town - Springbok Sevens rugby fans may still feel aggrieved about referee Matt O’Brien’s officiating in Wellington last week, but coach Neil Powell has urged his players to “close that door” ahead of the Sydney Sevens this weekend.

Powell named his 12-man squad on Thursday, and as expected, the only change from last week sees former EP Kings loose forward Tim Agaba replacing the injured Justin Geduld.

But there is still a lot of ill-feeling in South Africa about some of O’Brien’s decisions that went against the Blitzboks in the 24-21 Wellington final defeat to New Zealand. There was a lopsided penalty count of 9-1 against the visitors, with a number of debatable calls at the breakdowns going in favour of the All Black Sevens.

Some have gone as far as to claim that World Rugby was intent on ensuring that New Zealand won on home soil so that superstar Sonny Bill Williams made a winning start to his sevens career.

Questions have also been raised about the impartiality of O’Brien, who is the son of former New Zealand referee Paddy, who is the World Rugby Sevens referee manager as well. Paddy O’Brien is on the panel that chooses the officials for the sevens tournaments, so in effect, he picked his own son.

Matt O’Brien was born and raised in New Zealand, but after completing his university studies, he moved to Australia and works for the Australian Rugby Union – in a similar way to another former Kiwi referee, Steve Walsh.

But while there were a number of harsh calls against the Blitzboks in Wellington (in the final and the pool game against New Zealand), Powell wants his team to move on and focus on winning the Sydney Sevens, the first time that the event is being hosted in the city.

After all, they are leading the World Rugby Sevens Series standings on 54 points, two ahead of Fiji, with New Zealand seven adrift after three rounds out of the 10-tournament circuit.

“We did address that (the refereeing controversy) and we said to each other that we need to get over it and close that door sometime this week, and we did that on Tuesday and Wednesday,” Powell said in Sydney on Thursday.

“All our focus is on that first game against Scotland. It was a very tough tournament in Wellington, especially day two physically – playing against Australia, Fiji and then New Zealand in the final.

“We want to get the guys ready for this weekend, but we almost need them to recover and become hungry again for the tournament coming up.”

The Blitzboks, who lead the Sevens World Series by two points over Fiji, will face Scotland (2.44am), Russia (6.02am) and Kenya (10.05am) in Pool B at the Allianz Stadium in Sydney on Saturday.

Springbok Sevens Squad:

Chris Dry (47 World Series tournaments), Philip Snyman (captain, 33), Carel du Preez (4), Kwagga Smith (18), Sandile Ngcobo (1), Francois Hougaard (3), Cheslin Kolbe (11), Dylan Sage (2), Tim Agaba (0), Rosko Specman (8), Seabelo Senatla (22), Juan de Jongh (4).

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