Cape Town – The Springbok Sevens team have two objectives heading into the final two legs of the 2014-15 International Rugby Board (IRB) Sevens World Series: Retain their first position in the standings and lift the Cup trophy in the final round in Twickenham.
This season, South Africa won the Dubai and Port Elizabeth legs, clinched second in Japan, finished third thrice and fourth once to amass 129 points over seven rounds.
But with only a four-point lead over second-placed Fiji, on 125 points, and nine points over defending champions New Zealand, it will be a fight until the end for the Commonwealth Games gold medallists.
And SA captain Kyle Brown knows his team is under a huge amount of pressure to clinch only their second World Series title, having won their maiden trophy in 2008-09.
“It’s in the Springbok culture to win so there is always pressure to win, so we hope to get a good start to the tournament,” Brown said.
“The magnitude is great, but we have senior players like Frankie (Horne) with over 60 caps, myself and Cecil (Afrika) with over 40 caps, and Branco (Du Preez), so we have loads of experience and will be using it.”
And it’s not only experience that the Blitzbokke will be relying on but also the exuberance of youth. And no player has shown more vigour than speedster Seabelo Senatla, who is the Series’ leading tryscorer this season with 39 tries.
“Our team has been good as a whole and Seabelo has been an integral part of that. Werner (Kok) and Cecil has done an amazing job in creating space for Seabelo to score those tries,” Brown added.
SA face Samoa (12.58pm), Kenya (4.04pm) and New Zealand (7.37pm) in Glasgow this Saturday, and coach Neil Powell knows his troops have their work cut out for them.
“We are in a very tough pool and will have to fight all the way to qualify for the quarter-finals. Each pool match will be a knockout match for us, so there will be no room for complacency,” Powell said.
“It is important that we don’t get ahead of ourselves and think about the title race and Olympic qualification. We intend to take each match in our stride, so the most important thing for us when we arrive in Glasgow will be our first pool match.
“We always strive for consistency and if we can achieve our team objectives in each of our matches, then I am sure the results will follow.”
Powell has made two changes to his squad, with Stephan Dippenaar and Philip Snyman both recovering from the knee injuries they sustained in Hong Kong. The duo replace Carel du Preez and the injured Justin Geduld (hamstring).
The Blitzbokke depart today for Glasgow, and already have a plan of action upon arrival.
“We will have three sessions which will consist of field training and gym work and it will be intense with a practice run either on Wednesday or Thursday,” Brown said.
And the stakes couldn’t be higher with only the top four nations qualifying for the Olympics next year.
“It will be diabolic if we don’t finish in the top four, but our main focus for now is to win the trophy (in Glasgow),” the skipper added. The final leg is on May 15-16 in London. – The Weekend Argus