The reintroduction of rugby to the Olympic Games has provided South Africa with a genuine chance of collecting another medal, to go with those this country will, hopefully, pick up in athletics and swimming.
Rugby Sevens returns to the Games after almost 100 years out of the Olympics and for Neil Powell and his men, chances are they’ll start the tournament as one of the favourites for the gold medal. After all, the BlitzBoks finished the 2015/16 World Sevens Series in second place behind Fiji and history tells us Powell’s men are among the best in the business.
It’s an experienced squad Powell has selected, many of whom were involved in the gold medal-winning run at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, however, the likes of Warren Whiteley, Bryan Habana, Schalk Brits, Cornal Hendricks, Frankie Horne and Branco du Preez are missing this time round.
Still, the BlitzBoks squad includes experienced captain Kyle Brown, speedsters Rosko Specman, Seabelo Senatla and Cheslin Kolbe and powerhouses of the game, Cecil Afrika, Kwagga Smith and Justin Geduld. Also, Stormers and Western Province captain Juan de Jongh has cracked the nod, but fellow 15s regulars Habana, Ryan Kankowski and Francois Hougaard, who played in the recent series, have missed out.
The biggest surprise, though, when Sascoc announced the team a few days ago was the inclusion of World Sevens Player of the Year Werner Kok in the squad, the blond-haired bolter having not featured at all for the BlitzBoks in the last series. A knee injury put paid to his chances of further growing his reputation as one of the world’s best Sevens players, but Powell no doubt believes a fit Kok will add plenty of value to his team.
“It was really tough finalising the 12-man squad,” admitted Powell. “I could have picked three different teams and all would have been very competitive, but unfortunately, only 12 can go.
“We are all excited about this as it does not come bigger than the Olympics, but also realise there will be expectations for us to perform. We can only give our best and hope to justify the great support we are getting from the public.
“We are not thinking medals, but rather on how to execute in our first match on day one of the tournament. We will focus on what we do well and that will hopefully bring the desired results.”
Powell’s team warmed up for the Games by playing in the inaugural Assupol 7s tournament in Stellenbosch at the beginning of July. There they came up against Zimbabwe, a Western Province Invitational side and Western Province. They won all six games, with Powell saying he’d achieved his objectives.
“I’m pleased with what I saw and we achieved most of what we wanted from the tournament,” he said.
“You can train and work as hard as you want, but nothing beats playing matches. It is where you can test your decision-making, your skills and it gets the fitness levels up.
“Now we’ll turn our attention to the training ground and fine-tune for our first game.”
The BlitzBoks are in Pool B, with Australia, France and Spain. The tournament takes place in Rio between August 9 and 11.
“Our focus is only on our opening game. Even Brazil, in front of their home fans, will be tough. It’s the Olympics, nothing will be easy. But we’re excited about the challenge ahead of us,” said Powell.
Two years ago the South Africans surprised New Zealand when they pipped them to the Commonwealth Games gold medal - will they go one better and grab an Olympic gold this time? Don’t bet against it.
Springbok Sevens squad: Kyle Brown (capt), Tim Agaba, Philip Snyman, Werner Kok, Dylan Sage, Kwagga Smith, Rosko Specman, Cheslin Kolbe, Cecil Afrika, Justin Geduld, Juan de Jongh, Seabelo Senatla. Travelling reserves: Chris Dry, Francois Hougaard - Sunday Independent