Coach Neil Powell says the Blitzboks have yet to get into their full stride despite their unbeaten run on day one of the second Sevens Series tournament in Dubai.

The Springbok Sevens team beat Japan, Ireland and Great Britain to advance to the playoffs.

They will now face African neighbours Kenya in a quarter-final fixture at 8:50am on Saturday.

But, according to Powell, his charges failed to produce their best rugby on the opening day of the second tournament of the season.

“Maybe that was due to our form of last weekend, with the teams coming out to throw everything at you,” said Powell.

Powell also pointed to some missed opportunities, such as a forward pass just before half time against Ireland and their failure to score against Great Britain when their opponents had a man in the sin bin.

He was, however, encouraged by their defensive effort: “I think we really worked hard on our defensive system, although there are still some room for improvement.”

Commenting on the looming quarter-final against Kenya, Powell said: “An African derby will always be a physical one, so we have to make sure we make our tackles – we will have to make those one-on-ones stick.”