Nine-times champions the Blitzboks have a favourable history in Dubai this weekend as they look to bounce back from a difficult start to the 2022-23 Sevens Series. DYLAN JACK reports.
No other nation has won the Dubai Sevens more than the Blitzboks.
The South Africans go into this weekend as three-time defending tournament champions and have won five of the last six tournaments in Dubai, stretching back to 2016.
Rivals New Zealand come closest to matching the Springbok Sevens’ success in the UAE, winning the tournament six times and finishing as runners-up five times.
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This bodes well as the Blitzboks after a tough start to the season under new head coach Sandile Ngcobo saw South Africa knocked out in the quarter-finals in Hong Kong. Beaten again in the fifth-place semi-finals, the Blitzboks earned just 10 points in the season-opening tournament and trail series leaders Australia by 12 points.
“Preparations have been going well for us,” said captain Siviwe Soyizwapi. “We can take a lot of confidence from the camp back at home and the past two days in Dubai have been great as well, being out on the field in the heat so it’s been good.
“We enjoy playing in Dubai. It gets hot this time of the year in Cape Town, so I think it’s always good preparation for us coming into Dubai. There’s a lot of confidence that we can take from the previous years, however I think we always have to start all over again with each tournament. So, we’ll take it a step at a time, and I will take this as a brand-new tool.
“It’s really exciting to have our new coaches in the frame with new ideas that are coming through and I think you will see something new this coming weekend with two new debutantes as well which brings something different that they can add to the squad, so I’m really excited to see it.”
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Blitzboks tournament wins in Dubai:
2003: beat New Zealand 33-26
2006: beat New Zealand 31-12
2008: beat England 19-12
2014: beat Australia 33-7
2016: beat Fiji 26-14
2017: beat New Zealand 24-12
2019: beat New Zealand 15-0
2021: beat United States 42-7
2021: beat Australia 10-7
Blitzboks’ pool schedule – Friday, 2 December:
9.34am – Great Britain
1.20pm – Kenya
6.33pm – Australia
Blitzboks squad for the Dubai Sevens:
Ryan Oosthuizen – 33 tournaments, 165 points (33 tries)
Impi Visser – 22 tournaments, 125 points (25 tries)
Zain Davids – 33 tournaments, 160 points (32 tries)
James Murphy – 10 tournaments, 45 points (9 tries)
JC Pretorius – 21 tournaments, 225 points (45 tries)
Masande Mtshali – uncapped
Siviwe Soyizwapi (c) – 41 tournaments, 680 points (136 tries)
Branco du Preez – 83 tournaments, 1434 points (100 tries, 464 conversions, 1 penalty goal, 1 drop goal)
Dewald Human – 19 tournaments, 213 points (17 tries, 64 conversions)
Shilton van Wyk – 5 tournaments, 35 points (7 tries)
Dalvon Blood – 1 tournament, 20 points (4 tries)
Muller du Plessis – 20 tournaments, 315 points (63 tries)
Ricardo Duarttee – uncapped
Photo: Getty Images
