DURBAN - After such a successful season for the BlitzBoks, it would be fitting for their fairytale year to come to a triumphant end in the City of Love, Paris.
The Springbok Sevens team have a chance of taking the World Series, with a leg in London remaining, if they can win the tournament in Paris.
Sitting on 157 points over eight legs, their nearest challengers, Olympic Gold Medallists Fiji, are 25 points back with 132 points.
It would need the BlitzBoks to pick up 20 points to make it impossible to be chased down with the two legs remaining. The BlitzBoks can do this in Paris, but only with a win, which is worth 22 points.
It still seems likely the BlitzBoks will be crowned champions of this year’s series, having picked up four tournament wins, as well as three runners-up medals. It was only the last leg, in Singapore, where the BlitzBoks failed to make the final.
With the series all but locked up for the Boks, barring them failing to get 20 points over two tournaments, and Fiji winning the last two in a row, it would seem the race is more between those gunning for second, third and fourth.
England are in third place, only two points back of Fiji, while New Zealand are back a further 20 points from there - they will want to keep ahead of the USA who are nine points back in fifth.
Despite their strong showing through the Sevens Series, going back to its true inception in 1999, the South Africans have only ever won the series once - back in the 2008-09 season. The domination of the Kiwi’s, who have 12 championships to their name, seems to be over with the new pretenders to the throne being Fiji, who have won the last two series.
It would be a special win for the South African Sevens team, especially in a season where they have seen their 15-man side crumble down the seventh ranked side in the world.
The BlitzBoks picked up the winners medals in Dubai, Wellington, Sydney and Las Vegas, and being the professional set up that they are, there will be every intention to wrap things up before London even looms large the following weekend.