It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Springbok Sevens head coach Philip Snyman after the Blitzboks’ fifth-place finish at the Emirates Dubai 7s on Sunday, but he admitted that they did not perform to their own expectations.
After dropping out of the title race on Saturday, the Blitzboks outplayed Great Britain 34-0 and Spain 21-12 for a strong finish on Sunday at The Sevens and Snyman said that there were some positives from the HSBC SVNS opener, despite their disappointing opening day.
South Africa opened their Pool A campaign on Saturday with a win over France, but then lost to Fiji and Argentina, missing out on the semi-finals.
“We used our opportunities much better today compared to yesterday and that delivered a better result,” said Snyman.
“I am happy with our response today, but yesterday was not our best day. The good start against France was quickly forgotten when Fiji outplayed us on attack, defence and physically, and we did not use our chances against Argentina.
“Today’s performance at least shows that we did apply the work-ons from yesterday. The format is really tough, make no mistake, and teams can even win two of three pool games and still not make it into the semi-finals, but that was not our excuse. We were just not goo enough on the weekend.”
Snyman said some reviews and reflections with management and players alike will follow soon and that they will all be on the same page come the HSBC SVNS Cape Town next weekend.
“We have enough to work on,” he said. “Ball retention, how to play against the physically bigger teams and how to use our chances will all be improved on when we run out in Cape Town.”
A changed starting line-up looked sharp on attack, and the Blitzboks delivered a much better effort on day two in Dubai.
The opening match against Great Britain provided plenty of action and classy tries from the Blitzboks, who zipped their opponents 34-0 to make it into the fifth-place final against Spain.
Shilton van Wyk scored a try in each half, with his opener coming after a strong run down the touchline by Donavan Don. When Don was bundled into touch, he delivered a no-look pass to Van Wyk, who dotted down.
Don was then the recipient of a pinpoint Van Wyk pass to score his team's second try, giving South Africa a 10-0 lead at the break.
The second half saw a flurry of tries as Great Britain faded away. Van Wyk's second came after he stepped outside his man and ran 80m to score before Tristan Leyds dotted from a quick tap penalty.
There was more to come with Mfundo Ndhlovu finishing a good backline move and Zander Reynders ran onto a late Selvyn Davids pass to score the final points in the 34-0 win.
Spain scored first after a sloppy start by the Blitzboks in the fifth-place match. An errant pass handed a converted try to the Spanish side, but from the restart, Van Wyk sliced through the opposition defence to level the scores.
A good run down the wing by Don and a good hand-off from Ricardo Duarttee handed David Brits his first try of the tournament, with Duarttee's conversion handing the Blitzboks a 14-7 lead.
Spain came back with a good try after finding space in the wide channels, but in their best set play of the weekend, Ndhlovu sliced through to score the try that sealed the deal.
The Blitzbok won a lineout via Impi Visser, Duarttee made good ground and from the following ruck, Visser delivered a delightful pass to Ndhlovu on a tight line that took him past the Spanish defenders, and he scored under the sticks for Duarttee to convert.
Scorers:
South Africa 34 (10), Great Britain 0 (0)
SA – Tries: Shilton van Wyk (2), Donavan Don, Tristan Leyds, Mfundo Ndhlovu, Zander Reynders. Conversions: Tristan Leyds, Ronald Brown.
South Africa 21 (14), Spain 12 (7)
SA – Tries: Shilton van Wyk, David Brits, Mfundo Ndhlovu. Conversions: Ricardo Duarttee (3).
Spain – Tries: Roberto Ponce, Manu Moreno. Conversion: Ponce.