Blitzboks youngsters have to step up
Blitzbok coach Neil Powell now has no choice but to career full speed ahead with the development of the next generation of players at the halfway point of the 2018/19 HSBC World Series season.
South Africa‚ the defending champions can mathematically win the title for a third year running‚ but realistically it’s not going to happen.
SA are 31 points behind Series leaders the USA with five of the 10 tournaments remaining. The USA and New Zealand‚ who are just three points off the top of the log‚ would both have to spectacularly implode for the remotest chance of a fourth World Series title for SA.
So Powell has to focus on blooding the next generation of players while also battling for fourth place‚ and the prize of automatic Olympic qualification.
This weekend 20-years-olds Muller du Plessis and Sako Makata will add to their modest experience in Vancouver as SA looks to bounce back from a disappointing seventh place in Las Vegas last week.
Du Plessis graduated into the Blitzboks in Las Vegas in 2018‚ also played in Vancouver‚ Hong Kong and Singapore before being called into the Junior Springboks.
It meant he missed the tournament win in Paris‚ where the Blitzboks clinched the World Series for a second time.
And Du Plessis is keen to get to the top of the podium with the Springbok Sevens team.
“There are many reasons why I wanted to play for the Blitzboks from a young age‚ one of which is the winning mentality and winning culture‚” said Du Plessis‚ who will play in his eighth tournament for the team this weekend.
“Nothing has changed‚ although I am yet to experience that winning feeling. It can change this weekend‚ who knows.”
As he did a year ago‚ du Plessis started the North American trip as official reserve‚ and on Sunday he replaced Mfundo Ndhlovu in the last match against Fiji in Las Vegas.
The young flyer feels the team can bounce back: “We need to eliminate small errors. If we stick to our fundamentals and execute them properly‚ we will be competitive‚ that has been proved over and over in recent seasons.”
Makata‚ who debuted in Las Vegas last weekend to become the 176th Springbok Sevens player to play in the World Series‚ said although the final placing did not match their expectations‚ the experience gained did.
“I am ready for more – the Academy tours helped a lot‚ but this is the real thing‚" the Eastern Cape raised forward acknowledged.
“Everything is just a little bit faster and the margin of error is so much smaller. Especially the attack is much faster. One needs to adapt quickly and although the learning curve was steep‚ it was great and I am very keen to give it another go.
“We made some errors in Las Vegas that cost us‚ but we will work hard to fix those and get ready for whatever challenges awaits us at BC Place. Once the error rate comes down‚ the success rate will go up."