South Africa continued their fine form following victory in Vancouver last weekend with three dominant wins over Canada, Hong Kong and Mexico to top pool A and qualify for Sunday’s quarter-finals at the HSBC Canada Sevens in Edmonton, which is the final event of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2021.
The USA also ended day one with a perfect record of three victories, overcoming Kenya, Spain and Chile to win pool B and set up an exciting quarter-final clash with Great Britain, last weekend’s bronze medallists, in the first match of the day at 09:20 local time (GMT-6) on Sunday.
Ireland secured top spot in pool C with two wins and a draw, but it was Germany who caught the eye on the opening day in Edmonton and reminded everyone of the unpredictable nature of sevens by beating last weekend’s bronze medallists Great Britain 19-10 to reach a Series Cup quarter-final for the first time in history.
In Sunday’s other quarter-finals Ireland will face hosts Canada, before Germany take on last weekend’s beaten finalists Kenya and free scoring Series leaders South Africa play Hong Kong.
They will meet Hong Kong in the quarterfinals of the tournament on Sunday and for Springbok Sevens coach, Neil Powell, a day where everything starts afresh.
“It is not ideal to play an opponent that you have beaten well twice in a short space of time, as complacency could creep in, but we will make sure the guys have their minds on the job when we meet Hong Kong again in Sunday’s quarterfinals,” Powell said afterwards.
The coach was pleased with the Day One effort, which saw the team cross the opposing try line 22 times and only conceding one try – against Hong Kong.
The goal kickers were equally accurate in their execution converting 19 times, with Dewald Human slotted seven and Ronald Brown nine respectively.
“The artificial surface allows for a nice bounce and the kickers can strike the ball pretty true,” Powell explained.
“This also assisted greatly with our kick-offs, where we could really contest today and won back a number of contests. The guys spend a lot of time on the training ground to get it right and today got some good rewards in that department,” Powell said.
“The senior guys did well today and are showing the way and assisting our younger players very nicely. We had a good day, but all will start afresh on Sunday when we take on Hong Kong again,” Powell said.