Cape Town - Blitzbokke coach Neil Powell wants to “sit down” with the referees after a string of penalties against his team and a questionable call for a forward pass cost them victory in the New Zealand leg of the Sevens World Series in Wellington on Sunday.
New Zealand scored three tries in the last three minutes to beat the South Africans 24-21 in the Cup final at Westpac Stadium.
South Africa enjoyed a 21-7 lead with roughly three minutes to go in the match when playmaker Rosko Specman was sent to the sin bin for two minutes for a professional foul. The Kiwis clawed their way back to 21-19 during his absence before the Blitzbokke were denied a try in the dying seconds of the match, when Seabelo Senatla’s pass to Cheslin Kolbe was controversially called forward by the referee.
“We have had bad luck this whole weekend with the calls from the referees,” Powell said after the final.
“We will definitely have a sit down with the referees and see how we can improve. If we make mistakes around the rucks, how can we improve it? Because we were penalised a lot around the rucks.”
Despite on Sunday’s defeat in the final, the Blitzbokke have moved to the top of the World Series log ahead of this coming weekend’s Australia leg in Sydney. South Africa enjoy a two-point lead on the standings ahead of Fiji, who they shut out with an immense performance in the Cup semi-final.
“We are definitely disappointed with the result, but I’m in no way disappointed about the effort the guys put in,” Powell said.
“They did really well, and they deserved more than just a second place out of this tournament. We will probably be a bit down tonight and maybe tomorrow, but we have got another tournament in Sydney next weekend.”
After their Cup quarter-final win over Australia, the Blitzbokke delivered a master-class against the Fijians, scoring five tries in a memorable 31-0 victory.
“To put Fiji away without them scoring a try is an incredible performance. The guys are hungry for success and I’m immensely proud of this team,” Powell added.
“It shows the fighting spirit of this team and the never-say-die attitude of this team. They keep on fighting for each other, and it shows the character of this team at the moment.”
The Blitzbokke coach was also very pleased with the depth of his squad, especially after the influential Justin Geduld did not play on Sunday, while Juan de Jongh also hobbled off in the final with a calf problem.
South Africa are already missing stalwarts Frankie Horne, Kyle Brown, Cecil Afrika, Werner Kok and Rayno Benjamin. So this week, Powell will have to plan well and manage his players before the tournament in Australia.
“We had to see what it is like without those guys, because you never know when they will get injured, and you need the next guy to make the step up,” Powell said.
“Credit to guys who came in, the youngsters that came in and also the guys from the 15s. The current squad of Sevens players, they came together over the last three weeks as a team.
“But we have to be clever about how we prepare next week, we cannot push the guys too hard. But in saying that, we need to get them ready for that tournament as well. So we need to push them again.”
Cape Argus