The Blitzboks were the nearly-men of Sevens rugby in 2016

The Blitzboks showed remarkable consistency during the 2015-16 HSBC World Sevens Series‚ but lacked the killer punch when it mattered.

In the end the talented group under coach Neil Powell were runners-up to Fiji for a second consecutive year and later in the season they won a bronze medal at rugby’s return to the Olympic Games.

It was in no way a poor season‚ but one that could have been better as well. During the World Series the Blitzboks finished on 171 log points with Fiji 10 points clear on 181 after an entertaining season that saw Kenya and Scotland winning tournaments for the first time and Samoa returning to the winner’s circle as well.

But for SA‚ on closer analysis they have not really kicked on from the previous year when they were also second to Fiji with a total of 154 points in nine events. This season’s World Series was played over 10 legs.

The Blitzboks came away with an average of 17.1 log points per tournament this season and last year they averaged precisely the same in one fewer event. But in 2014/15 the Blitzboks won two tournaments. This year they won a single event – on home soil in Cape Town. Too often this season‚ when the crunch came‚ the Blitzboks were found wanting. Their Cup final loss in London to rookie finalists Scotland was a classic example of how SA has managed to lose games they should have won. Trailing 26-15 at Twickenham‚ Scotland needed two tries in less than a minute to win the Cup. They did it as the Blitzboks made the basic error of not gathering the restart after Scotland’s penultimate try.

In Wellington earlier this year the Blitzboks saw a comfortable 21-7 lead over New Zealand in the final evaporate in minutes as the hosts scored three unanswered tries to win. The Blitzboks perhaps didn’t enjoy the best refereeing decisions that day but they failed to close out a match they controlled.

And it’s a theme that recurred throughout the campaign. They beat top sides such as Fiji‚ most memorably 31-0 in the Cup semi-final in Wellington‚ but failed to close the door when it mattered.

“It was still a great year for us‚ but there were one or two wins that escaped us and had we claimed them‚ our lives would have been much easier. I am still very proud of the boys‚” captain Phillip Snyman said.

But a 25% win rate in finals is not good enough for a side as well resourced as SA. Fiji’s win rate in finals was 60% (three from five) while New Zealand won 75% (three out of four) of the finals they appeared in.

As usual‚ NZ displayed more ruthlessness than any other side when it mattered‚ although their consistency wasn’t as good throughout the season‚ which resulted in their third place overall.

Seabelo Senatla was named World Player of the Year after scoring 66 tries over the 10 tournaments.

But he was sorely missed in the Olympic Games semi-finals when injury ruled him out as Great Britain won 7-5.

Without Senatla the Blitzboks lacked a finisher out wide‚ but even so‚ they crafted enough chances to win easily. Kwagga Smith will forever be haunted by choosing to cut back inside when he had two unmarked teammates on his outside with the tryline wide open. SA went on to score eight tries on their way to beating Japan 54-14 for the bronze.

TMG Digital/TMG Sport