Rugby World Cup Sevens: Green And Golden Opportunity For Blitzbok To Make History

The Blitzboks will be determined to give long-serving coach Neil Powell a fairy-tale send-off and end an era on a historic high in front of their home fans at the Rugby World Cup Sevens, which kicks off at Cape Town Stadium on Friday, writes Quintin van Jaarsveld.

The quadrennial showpiece will rock the Mother City over three days of do-or-die rugby with 24 men’s teams and 16 women’s sides vying to become world champions.

Must – Win From The Jump

Unlike World Series tournaments, which start with a round-robin pool phase that determines the make-up of the knockout rounds, there’s absolutely no margin for error in this weekend’s single-elimination extravaganza.

Sixteen men’s teams will face off in a preliminary round to qualify for the Round of 16, where the top-eight seeded sides await. Nothing but a flawless run is required for a team to clinch the coveted Melrose Cup. Lose once and you’re relegated to the lesser competitions. 

The ‘winner takes all’ format, which was first introduced in the 2018 tournament, maximises excitement and tension, allows for shocking upsets and ensures that supporters will be on the edge of their seats for every minute of the action.

Title Race Wide Open

The title race is wide open with the defending champions New Zealand, double Olympic champions Fiji, newly-crowned World Series winners Australia and Commonwealth Games gold medallists South Africa all capable of running the gauntlet, while Argentina, France, the United States and England cannot be counted out.

For all their success in the World Series, the Blitzboks are yet to win the World Cup. The closest they came was in the second edition of the tournament back in 1997 in Hong Kong, where they succumbed 24-21 to Fiji in the final.

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Last Dance For Powell’s Blitzboks

This weekend’s showpiece represents the last dance for the Powell-coached Blitzboks with the silver-haired mentor moving on from the Sevens game after 15 years as a player and coach and joining the Sharks as the Durban-based franchise’s director of rugby.

The mastermind of the South African Sevens team since 2013, Powell has guided his country to three World Series crowns, two Commonwealth Games triumphs, and Olympic bronze.

His charges were on course to add the 2021-22 World Series title to their collection after winning the first six tournaments before nose-diving drastically. The start of an ongoing injury plague played its part in the side’s sensational 36-match unbeaten streak coming to an end in April and the best they could do in the five remaining legs was two fifth-place finishes, leaving them with silver medals that were distinctly more bitter than they were sweet.

The recent World Series finale in Las Vegas was a complete disaster for the men in green and gold as they suffered more injury setbacks and crashed to a 13th-place finish, their worst result in the 75-World Series-tournament Powell era.

Hosts Have Value

To say the timing of the World Cup is off from a Blitzboks perspective is an understatement, but in the same breath, several factors suggest that they do offer value at 4.30.

The very urgency of the matter and desperation to give Powell a fitting send-off will galvanise the team and ensure the intensity that’s been lacking of late is restored to its usually devastating degree.  The large and lively Cape Town crowd will further fuel their fire, while they’ll no doubt draw inspiration from the Springboks’ famous World Cup triumph on home soil in 1995.

Moreover, look no further than their triumphant Commonwealth Games run in Birmingham in July – which they capped off with a commanding 31-7 win over Fiji in the final – as proof that they can dig themselves out of a hole and put everything together to win a one-off tournament.

The squad have a familiar look to it with 10 players who were in action at the Commonwealth Games included. Only Dewald Human and Zain Davids are absent due to injury. There are also three bronze medallist survivors from 2018 in the squad in captain Siviwe Soyizwapi, Selvyn Davids and Ryan Oosthuizen, while the surprise recall of veteran Cecil Afrika will play on the opposition’s minds.

SA v Fiji Final?

The anticipation will build all of Friday with the Blitzboks – who are the top seeds – set to face the winners of the earlier clash between Germany or Chile in their opening encounter at 7pm.

New Zealand, who have momentum on their side after winning the World Series-ending LA Sevens, start the defence of their title against Scotland or Jamaica, Fiji go up against Wales or Korea and Australia, whose consistency saw them pip the Blitzboks to the post to claim their maiden World Series title, take on Hong Kong or Uruguay. 

New Zealand share 4.30 outright odds with the hosts, but only one of them can reach the final as the draw has the old rivals facing off in the semi-finals on Sunday should they progress.

Fiji are the favourites at 3.20 and if things play out as expected, they’ll have to beat Australia (5.50) in the semi-finals to set up a blockbuster decider against the Blitzboks or the men in black. 

South African Squad (With RWC & World Series Stats):

Cecil Afrika – 2013 RWC; 66 World Series tournaments (1462 points)

Ronald Brown – RWC debut; 8 World Series tournaments (285 points)

Angelo Davids – RWC debut; 9 World Series tournaments (160 points)

Selvyn Davids – 2018 RWC; 27 World Series tournaments (564 points)

Muller du Plessis – RWC debut; 20 World Series tournaments (315 points)

Christie Grobbelaar – RWC debut; 8 World Series tournaments (70 points)

Sako Makata – RWC debut; 16 World Series tournaments (60 points)

Mfundo Ndhlovu – RWC debut; 10 World Series tournaments (60 points)

JC Pretorius – RWC debut; 20 World Series tournaments (225 points)

Siviwe Soyizwapi (captain) – 2018 RWC; 40 World Series tournaments (670 points)

Impi Visser – RWC debut; 21 World Series tournaments (115 points)

Shaun Williams – RWC debut; 7 World Series tournaments (80 points)