Cape Town — Blitzboks coach Neil Powell says they’re targeting a strong start at the Singapore Sevens on Saturday.
The Springbok Sevens side go into the fifth World Sevens Series tournament of the 2022 season as the team to beat after claiming the shortened Series title in Vancouver and Edmonton last year, before going back to back in Dubai and also taking the top podium spot in Malaga and Seville.
After touching down in Singapore on Monday, the Blitzboks got right down to business, and coach Neil Powell explained that their busy start to the week was the plan all along to help them cope with jet lag and humidity.
“We executed that plan from our medical team with success,” said Powell.
“We arrived early which helped, and we managed a defence and attack session, and both went well. We deliberately wanted to create high intensity early in the week and managed that. It was not perfect, but overall, I am happy with the effort the guys showed in those early sessions.”
Fiji, New Zealand and Samoa will all feature at the National Stadium after missing out on previous legs, and while they will certainly add competition to the weekend’s event, Powell said they are focused on their Pool A opponents - Canada, Kenya and the USA.
“It is not an easy pool and if you are not prepared well, you can easily trip over any of these three sides,” said Powell.
“The last time we played Canada (in Malaga in January), the score was still 0-0 at the break and I am sure they will take a lot of confidence out of that performance. Our focus will be on that game and as always, we would like to set a standard for ourselves for the remainder of the tournament. So, we do target a good start.”
Powell noted the progress Kenya has shown in recent months: “Our matches against Kenya are always very physical and a true African derby. They are improving all the time and we need to make sure we play them on our terms.”
The Blitzbok coach added that the USA remain one of the most dangerous outfits.
“They have some players that are getting used to the World Series, but with pace like that you need to be very protective of your ball possession, because those guys can score from anywhere on the field,” he said.
“If we do the things well that we need to, the results will speak for itself, so the responsibility is ours to maintain the standards that made us successful so far this Series.”
Blitzboks fixtures – Saturday, 9 April (SA time)
06h34: Canada
09h40: Kenya
13h33: USA
Springbok Sevens squad:
1. Sakoyisa Makata 2. Ryan Oosthuizen 3. Impi Visser 4. Zain Davids 5. Christie Grobbelaar 6. JC Pretorius - 7. Ronald Brown 8. Selvyn Davids 9. Lubabalo Dobela 10. Dewald Human 11. Siviwe Soyizwapi (captain) 12. Mfundo Ndlovu 13. Darren Adonis
IOL Sport