The Blitzboks had to settle for a ninth-place finish at the latest Singapore sevens tournament after two victories on Sunday morning (SA time), first by two points against the USA before finishing the tournament in style against Australia.
The Blitzboks actually ended up with three victories in their four games, which included a great win over world series leaders Argentina on Saturday, but unfortunately a big defeat in their pool opener against Great Britain meant the South Africans were condemned to the minor placings.
When now looking at the latest world rugby sevens series rankings, the Blitzboks remain fourth in the standings (on 70 points), but they are now as many as 34 points adrift of first-placed Argentina.
Spain are in third place on 88 points, while Fiji have a tally of 96 in second.
The Blitzboks have to make up lost ground in the sevens standings
SA coach Philip Snyman said the weekend was “bittersweet” and that the performances left him with mixed emotions.
“That first game against GB really put us on the backfoot, first with the early red card and then playing with only five players later on after a yellow card,” said Snyman.
“We need to address our discipline as it wasn’t up to standard with too many cards and too many penalties.
“After that game, we decided we’re going to judge ourselves on our last three matches. We put up a massive fight against Argentina, the world’s number one team, and this morning, despite beating the USA, we were not at our best and not clinical, which is probably the story of our season – too up and down and not consistent enough.
“Then we delivered one of our best and most clinical performances against Australia, so while I have some mixed emotions, I’m very happy with the way in which we finished the tournament.”
Snyman said the lack of consistency is frustrating: “I believe in this squad and the programme, but we need to be more consistent, which is why we’re not amongst the top three. We still made a massive step up from last season though.
“We have beaten Argentina twice and we played in two finals, but on the Asian leg in the last two weeks we came up short, which we need to address.
“We are going to continue to work very hard and make a mental shift to see how we can me more clinical and consistent, because this team have shown they can beat any other team.”
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Src: TheSouthAfrican.com - https://rugga.co.za/blitzboks/latest-sevens-series-standings-as-blitzboks-languish/
