Springbok Sevens coach Neil Powell announced himself satisfied with the first part of preparations for the Olympics after his team won an international tournament in Stellenbosch on Saturday.
The competition wasn’t of a high standard, but it was the Blitzboks’ first hit-out since the end of the World Sevens Series in London in late May, where they lost to Scotland in the final at Twickenham.
On Saturday at Paul Roos Gymnasium’s Markotter Stadium, the Blitzboks dispatched Western Province 34-5 in the final, with tries scored by Rosko Specman, Siviwe “Shakes” Soyizwapi (2), Cheslin Kolbe, Kyle Brown and Dylan Sage.
The tournament was the last chance for the players to catch Powell’s eye before the final 12-man squad for Rio is named in mid-July, and for a fringe player like Soyizwapi, he would’ve gained a lot out of being named the man of the match in the final and dotting down twice.
SA Rugby said on Friday that Ryan Kankowski, Philip Snyman, Cecil Afrika, Francois Hougaard and Ruhan Nel didn’t participate in day one’s action, but from pictures posted on Twitter, it appears as if Hougaard did get a run on Saturday.
Earlier, the Blitzboks beat Zimbabwe 48-0 and the WP Invitational side 45-5 in the semi-finals. “This tournament came at the right time for us, breaking up the over two months between when the World Series ended and where Rio starts. It breaks it up nicely into two and the first part of the preparations was focused on our breakdowns and kickoffs, and I’m happy with what the guys showed me with regards to those areas,” Powell said.
“We achieved most of the aspects we wanted to look at. The areas we worked on in training came through well. There is always room for improvement, but overall I am pleased. We still have a couple of weeks to fine-tune things and will continue to work hard in order to do so.
“We have not spent too much time on our defence and attack so far, so although we are not happy with the two tries conceded, we will get to that. We still have time to work on those things.”
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