Tall task as Blitzboks aim for Singapore redemption

The Springbok Sevens team will have to draw on the lessons of their epic victory in Cape Town in December if they are to have any hope of salvaging their HSBC SVNS Season at the Singapore Sevens this weekend.

It’s hard to quantify what the poor performance of the Blitzboks in their bogey tournament in Hong Kong did for their season. The ninth place finish all but meant they are out of the running for the top spot in the tournament.

While it may not be the panic stations that we saw last season where they just managed to make the top eight and stave off a tournament that could have meant possible relegation, the damage is clear.

Philip Snyman’s side, after their win in Cape Town, final performance in Vancouver and semifinal performance in Perth, were producing a lot of consistent results. The ninth place blowout in Hong Kong changed all that, and undid a lot of the good work they had put in during the season.

The Blitzboks are still fourth on the log, but the possibility of catching Argentina is now gone, and with this being the last tournament of the regular season, they will need a good performance to get the best seeding for the season-ending Championship tournament in Los Angeles next month.

Part of the problem is the change in format that the Singapore Sevens is part of. Like Cape Town, World Rugby had agreed to a format change earlier in the season that targets the two back-to-back tournaments to try and protect player welfare.

That means that - like in Cape Town - only the four pool winners will advance from the first day to contest the semifinals. This is a marked difference from the three pools of four at other tournaments where the top two and two lucky losers go into a quarterfinal. This week there are no quarterfinals, and the jeopardy of getting it right from the first game is real.

That also means less games and the Blitzboks poor performance in Hong Kong has left them in the same pool as Argentina, who are likely to clinch the World Series title at the end of the Singapore tournament.

With Great Britain as their other opponent, the road to glory is clear - take out Argentina and beat Great Britain to give yourself a shot at glory. Otherwise, it will be a disappointment that may not rival Hong Kong, but won’t please Snyman and co.

As Impi Visser put it this week, the team was their own worst enemies.

“We really stuffed up our season,” said Visser. “Before Hong Kong we were still in the hunt for the overall title, but that has slipped through the net now and that is frustrating, as we have been doing well in recent tournaments.

“We have another go at the Grand Finale in Los Angeles later, but we had our eyes on the series as well, so it was a huge disappointment.”

Argentina are in high spirits with their captain Santiago Mare believing they can clinch back to back titles, which would be sensational for their Sevens programme.

“Confidence is high after winning the last two tournaments but we are still looking forward to growing in Singapore, to doing things even better on the field and then get the results.

“Becoming league winners gives us a lot of motivation. It is the objective and we are working a lot, just focusing on our game play and our actions, not in the result. Every pool is very hard and every match is like a final so we have to be very clinical and play very well in the first two matches. It would mean a lot to become league winners so we are focusing on that.”

So the stage is set, and the Blitzboks will want to put out a response for their Hong Kong disappointment. Argentina and Great Britain won’t be easy at all, but that is the mountain they need to climb.

Kenya face a tough pool with Olympic champions France and Ireland as they look for some form ahead of the LA finale of the season.

Some 20 points behind Great Britain in ninth spot, Kenya are set to have to play the qualifying tournament in LA against the four top teams in the Challenger series to avoid being relegated to the second tier competition.

Fixtures

All times GMT+2, CAT

South Africa

Saturday

7.26am vs Great Britain

10.44am vs Argentina

Kenya

Saturday

6.42am vs Ireland

10.00am vs France