Winning start for Blitzboks at Hong Kong Sevens

The Springbok Sevens squad will take their opening 21-0 win over Uruguay in Pool B of the Hong Kong Sevens and bank it, as they had no ambitions other than getting the victory on Friday.

That mission was accomplished at Hong Kong Stadium and they can now activate the next phase of their plan, to top their pool on Saturday, when they will face Great Britain and France.

That is the view of new Blitzbok coach Sandile Ngcobo, who said he was not too stressed about the slow start of the match against Uruguay, as it was expected.

“There were some nerves, the ball was quite greasy and the guys were sweating as well, so that all contributed to the slow start,” said Ngcobo.

“We will take that to heart and see where we can improve. It was the win we wanted as we are only preparing for the next game, so the focus was on Uruguay and beating them. We created enough opportunities, but did not finish all of them, so we will look at ourselves on how we can do better and come back strongly.

“We have our minds set on winning our pool, and we can go to work on that tomorrow in the two remaining pool games.”

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After their clash against the newcomers to the World Rugby Sevens Series, Blitzbok playmaker Ronald Brown said their attack need to be sharper.

Brown provided the main attacking thrust, scoring 11 of the 21 points against the South Americans, but he said the team did not connect the way they wanted to on attack, although he was confident that some analysis overnight would solve those issues.

Wet ball

“The ball was a bit wet and that had an impact I suppose, but I did feel we were not as sharp as we could be when we had the ball,” said Brown, adding that he was very happy to hear that he could play on the weekend after a COVID test earlier in the week came back inconclusive.

“Waiting on the result was a bit troubling, but I am just happy that I was cleared to play and could be on the field with the rest of the guys. I was blessed that I could go out and play and do what I love, and I am very grateful for that.”

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Earlier on Friday, France scored a 34-0 victory over Great Britain in their Pool B encounter.

The Blitzboks face Great Britain at 7.10am (SA time) and France at 11.05am on Saturday.