Sako Makata and Angelo Davids have promised to revive the Blitzboks’ spirits and flagging form at the London Sevens.
South Africa have slumped to second in the 2021-22 World Sevens Series standings leading up to the penultimate round, in England. Makata and Davids joined the Blitzboks in place of the injured Tiaan and JC Pretorius, and for the new arrivals it is all a matter of contributing as much as possible.
For Makata, watching the Blitzboks grind to a stuttering halt in Toulouse last week was a painful and frustrating experience.
Sitting in the Western Cape, unable to do anything about the happenings in the south of France, made him feel helpless.
The situation will be vastly different for Makata at Twickenham on Saturday as he promises to bring heaps of energy to the team in London.
WATCH: Hendrikse ‘shocked’ by Blitzbok call-up
“I was gutted to miss out on the most of Singapore and then Vancouver and obviously Toulouse, but now I have another chance to contribute, and I want to make it count,” said the forward, who was in fine form before injury struck.
“Watching from the outside was agonising as you feel you can do things differently, but it is maybe because you are watching from a different perspective being far away.”
Davids, who was donning the Western Province jersey during the first seven tournaments of the World Sevens Series, said he was still doing “sevens stuff” to keep sharp and felt he had integrated well.
“I was hoping to bring the smiles back and I think it worked,” said Davids. “We had a great session [on Thursday] and I think one of the reasons was because the guys had their smiles back. We had no luck in Toulouse and that compounded the mistakes we were making. I am positive it will be fixed this weekend.”
The wing was always set to return to the sevens code in order to push for a Rugby World Cup Sevens spot, so although it was a bit sooner than expected, he is keen to be back.
“I was actually on my way to church on Sunday when the call came, so that was a good sign for me,” he joked.
The Blitzboks will face Argentina, Ireland and Kenya in pool B of the London event.
Energy, smiles…#BestOfUs@HSBC_Sport pic.twitter.com/aKzPfaD7wA
— Springbok Sevens (@Blitzboks) May 26, 2022
