Cape Town - Springbok Sevens coach Neil Powell says he’s pleased with his side’s 27-7 comeback victory over Scotland at the Malaga Sevens on Friday.
The Blitzboks’ ill-discipline in the opening half saw them trail 7-0 at the break, but a much-improved effort in the second half saw them score five tries through Zain Davids, Selvyn Davids (two), skipper Siviwe Soyizwapi and Christie Grobbelaar.
Speaking after the game, Powell said: “I’m happy with the outcome of the first game, there are one or two things we could have done better, but it was a great second half,” Powell said.
“If you give away four penalties and a yellow card (to JC Pretorius) in one half, you’re always going to struggle regardless of who you’re playing against. That’s probably the reason we were 7-0 down at half time. At half time we just asked the guys to hold onto the ball and take control of the game, and that’s exactly what they did.
“We don’t want to go into a tournament being complacent and I think you’re not nervous ahead of that first game, there is complacency. If you play a quality rugby country like Scotland, who we haven’t seen play for the last two years, you don’t know what to expect.”
Powell added that their performance on Day One of the three-day event is one they can certainly build on going forward.
“This was not the performance we were looking for, but I think there’s a lot we can learn from it and there were a lot of positives we can use to build a foundation on for the rest of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Soyizwapi, who took a knock to the shoulder and stayed down after scoring the team’s fourth try, is in doubt for the remainder of the tournament.
The Blitzboks explained that they would see how Soyizwapi responds to the knock he took to his AC joint and make a call on his fitness in the morning.
South Africa next face England in their second and final pool match on Saturday (kick-off 14:14).