JOHANNESBURG - Springbok Sevens coach Neil Powell has warned his players not to drop their guard in this weekend’s World Rugby Sevens Series tournament in Vancouver, Canada.
The BlitzBoks are the red-hot team in the game at the moment, having won four of the five tournaments so far and lead the series standings after winning 28 of 30 matches in the 2016/17 competition.
But with several key first-choice players currently ruled out of action - among them Seabelo Senatla, Kwagga Smith, Justin Geduld and Kyle Brown - the depth of the BlitzBoks team is under examination and this weekend they’re up against some tricky opponents.
First up on Saturday are Chile, an unknown quantity, but a team that beat the South Africans when they last met (albeit in 2000 in Uruguay), and that match is followed by two further pool games against the ever dangerous England and Kenya.
“Unfortunately there is a lot of talk that we have the series sewn up, which cannot be further from the truth,” said Powell.
“One bad tournament, where we don’t make the semi-finals, could derail our momentum significantly.
“The last thing I want the players to think of is a fifth tournament win or our lead in the series and then getting ahead of themselves.
“We dare not look past Chile in that first pool game.
“And, I don’t have to spell out how dangerous Kenya and England can be, so if we are not on top of our game, we could not even make the quarters,” Powell warned.
Having dominated the series so far, the BlitzBoks will now have a massive target on their backs.
They’re a young team, too, and will be feeling not only the pressure, but the strains of back-to-back tournaments, having gone all the way in Las Vegas a week ago.
Powell, though, is hopeful of a good showing from his men.
“We did a solid review of our performance in Las Vegas and realised how many things we can still do better,” he said.
“We did some good things, but not enough to excuse us from working hard again this week to fine-tune our game.
“I was pleased with the way we executed our ruck attack and how we kept the ball when we had possession.”
At the halfway mark of the 10-tournament series, the Blitzboks (107) hold a 24-point lead over Fiji, with England (81) close behind.
SA’s pool fixtures: v Chile (9.18pm today); v Kenya (12.54am tomorrow); v England (4.34am tomorrow)