Powell disappointed with Blitzboks discipline

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Blitzboks coach Neil Powell said he was left disappointed with his team’s discipline and mental approach after their fourth-place finish at the Vancouver Sevens.

The Springbok Sevens team will return to South Africa on Wednesday with 37 out of a possible 44 log points gained on the North American leg of the World Rugby Sevens Series, which includes a first LA Sevens crown, and a consolidated second place on the series standings.

However, defeats to New Zealand (27-15) in the semi-final and Canada (26-19) in the bronze medal match in Vancouver spoiled a nine-match winning streak on tour and lost them their Canada Sevens crown.

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Those defeats will hurt the team for a while, admitted Powell, as they were untimely reminders that a lack of discipline and unforced errors are poison in any team’s diet.

The Blitzboks started the second day in Vancouver with a strong 26-10 win over the USA in the quarter-finals to book the showdown with New Zealand, but the log leaders outplayed the Blitzboks, successfully targeting them at the breakdown. A yellow card added to the misery and the deficit on the scoreboard as New Zealand scored twice in that time.

‘That was very disappointing – it is already hard enough playing against them with seven men, so the yellow card was really damaging to our chances,’ Powell said.

‘I thought we had some opportunities in the second half while we were down 5-15 and that we could take control of the match again, but then we made unforced errors in basic aspects of the game.’

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Against Canada, who had their best performance ever at BC Place, the scores were tied 14-14 at the break, but another yellow card allowed the home side to score the vital try that separated the sides.

‘We will have to be hard on each other when doing reviews, as the last matches of the tournament are always those you tend to remember,’ said Powell. ‘We wanted to give some of the younger players more game time as well and they would have learned a lot from this.

‘Last season we won the second leg of the trips and this time it was the other way around. It does somehow make a difference in attitude and something we need to look at. The focus and starting at zero again was not as good as it should have been.

‘It was not ideal conceding more log points to New Zealand, but we will have to use the next tournaments to try and get those back. It is tough to plan with all the uncertainty, but we are taking a short break when we return and will see where things are after that,’ he added.

As a small positive for the South African, wing Muller du Plessis was named in the Dream Team at the conclusion of the tournament in Vancouver.

Photo: @Blitzboks/Twitter

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SA Rugby magazine