Neil Powell says the Blitzboks just weren’t good enough as they failed to make the podium at the Commonwealth Games on Sunday.
The Springbok Sevens suffered two defeats in the Robina Stadium on the Gold Coast, first to Fiji (24-19) in the semi-finals and then to England (21-14) in the bronze-medal play-off.
REPORT: Fiji break Blitzboks’ hearts
‘It was a very disappointing performance and not what we wanted to achieve for Team South Africa,’ said Powell.
‘We just did not deliver and were not good enough on the day. Our attack did not function as earlier in the year and we gave both Fiji and England opportunities to score points.’
The Blitzboks coach said the team will now shift their focus to the remainder of the season.
‘We had three big objectives this year, and the fact that we failed in the first will make us more determined to succeed in the other two.
‘We are still leading the World Rugby Sevens Series with four tournaments to go, so we will put a lot of effort into that. The Sevens World Cup in July is also another one we targeted to do well, so hard work awaits.’
REPORT: Poms add to Blitzboks’ pain
Springbok Sevens captain Philip Snyman lamented his team’s execution on the final day in Australia.
‘We played well on the first day, but on Sunday, when it mattered, we did not.
‘There are no excuses for that; we learned some harsh lessons. The match against Fiji could have gone either way, to be honest, but we gave them too much in that first half. Against England, we controlled the first half, only to concede three tries and our chance for a medal, which hurts.’
Against Fiji in the semi-finals, three mistakes in the first half saw the current Olympic champions race away to a 19-0 lead at the break. A brace by Rosko Specman and a try for Dylan Sage evened out the scores and extra-time was needed to determine the winner, when a stray pass by South Africa saw Fiji sprint away for the winning score.
In the final match of the tournament, against England, two well-worked efforts by Branco du Preez and Ruhan Nel had the Blitzboks in control at the break. But they failed to maintain the effort in the second half as England capitalised on mistakes and scored the winning points in the final minute to claim bronze.
The medals went to New Zealand (gold), Fiji (silver) and England (bronze).
The next tournament in the Sevens Series is the Singapore Sevens on 28-29 April.
Photo: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images
