Powell warns that one bad tournament can still derail rampant Blitzboks

Blitzboks coach Neil Powell’s biggest challenge this week has been to temper expectation and the praise his team has received during their preparations for the sixth round of the HSBC World Sevens Series in Vancouver.

After winning last weekend’s fifth leg in Las Vegas for their fourth title of the season‚ SA moved 24 points clear of Fiji at the top of the overall standings.

Seldom has a side held such a massive advantage at the halfway mark in the campaign.

The last time there was anything as close to such a wide gap between first and second on the standings‚ was midway through the season in 2007-08 when New Zealand virtually lapped the field by winning the opening five tournaments of the campaign.

It’s difficult to see how SA can be stopped from winning the overall title from this position‚ but Powell was not taking it for granted.

• The Blitzboks suffer another injury blowThe Blitzboks have suffered another serious injury setback after confirmation that playmaker Justin Geduld will miss the Vancouver leg of the World Series with an ankle injury. 

This weekend the Blitzboks are drawn against England‚ Kenya and Chile in Pool play.

SA have won 28 of their 30 matches this season‚ their only two defeats against England in the Cape Town final and a pool game in Sydney. Head to head in 2016-17 England lead the Blitzboks 2-1.

“There is a lot of talk that we have the series sewn up‚ which cannot be further from the truth‚” said Powell.

“One bad tournament‚ where you don’t make the semifinals‚ could derail our momentum significantly.

“The last thing I want to players to think of is a fifth tournament win or our lead in the series and then getting ahead of themselves. We dare not to look past Chile in that first pool game.”

• Gritty Blitzboks hit the jackpot in Las VegasAfter dominating the 2016/17 HSBC World Series in style‚ the Blitzboks had to resort to old fashioned grit on their way to a fourth title in five tournaments in Las Vegas in the early hours of Monday morning. 

Chile have interestingly won the only encounter played between the two sides‚ 28-21 in a pool match at Punta del Este in Uruguay in 2000.

“I don’t have to spell out how dangerous Kenya and England can be‚ so if we are not on top of our game‚ we could not even make the quarters‚” Powell warned.

The South Africans have won 40 of their 46 matches against Kenya (average score 26-9) and 36 of 68 against England (average score 16-15).

“We did a solid review of our performance in Las Vegas and realised how many things we can still do better‚” Powell said.

“We did some good things‚ but not enough to excuse us from working hard again this week to finetune our game. I was pleased with the way we executed our ruck attack and how we kept the ball when we had possession.”

• Veteran Afrika makes timely return to the Blitzbok squad ahead of Vegas tripSouth Africa’s leading sevens points’ scorer Cecil Afrika has been included in the Blitzbok squad for the North American leg of the HSBC World Sevens Series after an injury lay-off. 

Key playmaker Rosko Specman‚ who will be a central figure in the absence of the injured Justin Geduld this weekend‚ echoed the coach’s words.

“We will never be satisfied‚ there is always room for improvement‚ even if it is just one percent‚” said Specman‚ who was named Player of the Final in last weekend's tournament.

“We were not at our best in Las Vegas‚ despite the fact that we won the tournament. We made a number of errors and our one on-one defence was not ideal‚ so we had a lot to work on this week.

“The individual performances come from a team effort and that is where our strength lies at the moment.

“We are playing for each other and really work hard to support each other. That structure and system allows the individuals to perform.”

- TMG Digital/TMG Sport