Philip Snyman has delivered a stern verdict after the Blitzboks gave up winning positions against Australia and Argentina to finish sixth at the Singapore Sevens.
Despite an unbeaten run in their three pool matches, the Blitzboks came unstuck in both their playoffs, going down by 29-24 to Australia in the quarter-final on Saturday – with their opponents clinching the victory with a golden try in extra time – before Sunday morning’s second successive close result against Argentina.
The Argentineans came back with a spirited second-half display in the fifth-place playoff, scoring the match-winning try in the final minute to condemn the South Africans to a second consecutive sixth place finish at the end of the league phase of the season.
Snyman said the Blotzboks will need to look at their decision-making and converting opportunities into points, while they also seemed to veer from the game plan when the pressure was on.
“It’s a concern as I believe we were good enough to play in the semi-final this weekend, but we can’t keep on thinking about things, it’s time to deliver now and we didn’t do that,” he said.
“Starting with me as coach and the management, we’ll take a hard look at ourselves, do some planning and try to get the players into good mental state for the rest of the season.
“We need to create pressure situations and ensure they come through it, because at the moment, when the pressure is on, we do things out of character and then results go against us.
“We topped our pool and we fought back well against France (on Saturday). Going into the playoffs our goal was to reach the semi-finals and we came so close to that, but we had three opportunities in extra time which we could not convert, and Australia got one chance and used it.
“We also had Argentina against the ropes, so while there are positives from the weekend, we now have to translate that into getting results.”
Blitzbok captain Selvyn Davids agreed with his coach: “Sevens rugby is supposed to be played for 14 minutes, but we didn’t do that in our last three games and you can’t afford to do that against the quality teams on the circuit, and that is where we shot ourselves in the foot.
“We also left some points on the field and we will have to work on that, as we tend to get into good positions, but when we fail to convert.”
The Blitzboks finished in seventh position after a mid-season slump, but still have a lot to play for in the Grand Finale in Madrid later this month, before they will set their sights on qualifying for the Paris Olympic Games in Monaco next month.
As a result of their victory, the South Americans will finish at the top of the overall standings and were crowned league champions, with Ireland unable to catch Argentina on the log, despite reaching the Singapore final where they were edged by New Zealand.
Photo: David Van Der Sandt/Gallo Images
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Src: sarugbymag.co.za
