Cape Town - When Dylan Sage made his Blitzbok debut at the inaugural Cape Town leg of the World Sevens Series last year, the then-rookie was a very different player to what he is now.
Sage has grown a lot and seems more settled on the field. He gets involved more, and believes that he has become calmer with every tournament he has played in - and that has been evident.
Now, the 24-year-old wants to continue that upward curve when the Springbok Sevens team defend their Cape Town title this weekend.
“It’s been quite a roller-coaster year. I feel that it’s gone really well. It feels like I have progressed with every tournament. And then, obviously, going to the Olympics was the cherry on top,” Sage said.
“I think it’s going to be nice. Your first tournament is always a bit of a tough one. I played a few tournaments and I played at the (Rio) Olympics. So I feel that I’m a lot calmer and I can actually get on the field and do my thing.”
As with other 15-man players who make the transition to the abbreviated format, strength and conditioning was the toughest aspect for Sage, who represented the Western
Province Under-21 side in 2012 and 2013 before moving to Perth to link up with Super Rugby franchise the Western Force’s wider training group.
“It was tough. Sevens has a much higher conditioning threshold than fifteens. So it takes a while. I was lucky I came in on the first day of pre-season last year, so I had a good three, two-and-a-half months to get my conditioning up," he said.
"It does take a while to get used to the speed and conditioning. But I think it’s just about knuckling down and doing the best you can.”
But Sage seems to be enjoying his new code and asked about his future plans, he said: “I’ve just signed with Sevens for the next two years, so I’ll be a Sevens man for at least the rest of the circuit.”
After the Blitzboks’ success in Dubai last week, where they were dominant on attack, defence and the breakdowns, Sage attributed their fine work - especially on the ground - to patience and composure.
“We work really hard on both our attack and defence, but especially our defence. I think this year we weren’t impatient at the breakdowns and we backed our defence. We were very composed,” he added.
The Blitzboks were also packed with experience players going into the season-opening tournament, which gave them a massive boost in terms of continuity and cohesion.
“I think we were quite lucky to have kept most of our squad together. It helped us retain our continuity and momentum," Sage said.
"We had a solid pre-season - we started a little bit later so that the guys could rest after the Olympics. And I think that rest did a lot of guys
good justice.”
“I think we can just take that confidence and momentum that we gained in Dubai into Cape Town.”
There is also plenty of competition in the side for positions, and that internal competition is another thing that Sage finds beneficial to the squad.
“Ja, it’s very tight for certain positions, but it’s a good thing. It’s always good to have competition. It betters everyone in the squad. So if we can keep this internal competition going and guys bringing their best, it’s going to be a successful year,” he said.