South Africa’s speedster Quewin Nortje cuts through the Mexico defence for a try on day one of the World Rugby Sevens Repechage tournament at Louis II Stadium in Monaco. Photo: Mike Lee - KLC fotos for World Rugby
THE Springbok Sevens made a positive start at the Olympic Repechage tournament in Monaco yesterday as they overpowered Mexico in a 44-0 rout in their final bid to qualify for Paris 2024.
Stand-in head coach Philip Snyman will be pleased by the performance after his side ticked all the boxes they wanted to in the match.
It was a solid defensive effort with good first-time tackles, the Blitzboks retained possession after their own kick-offs and found space with some good attacking moves to score eight tries in the process.
This all indicates they are a highly-motivated side in their search for that final spot at the Olympic Games next month, and they will be eager to build on this momentum today.
Another good defensive effort against Tonga (kick-off 1.44 pm) and Chile (5.56 pm) should set the South Africans up for a strong run-in on Sunday when the play-off matches are decided.
Tonga should be a physical affair that will provide captain Selvyn Davids and his troops with some more tackling practice. Snyman will want to see that same intensity in tackling the Islanders as his players had against the Mexicans yesterday.
The Chileans will likely be the toughest group opponents for the Blitzboks after they triumphed over the Tongans in their opener, but it should be a cruise through to the quarter-finals for South Africa.
Two more convincing wins today could see the Springbok Sevens qualify as the top-seeded team for an easier play-off tomorrow, where they need to win all three matches to secure their Olympic spot.
“We are happy with the first game,” Davids said after the Mexico match.
“I think we laid a solid foundation, did our basics well, and did what the coaches asked us. We knew that if we looked after the system, the system would look after us.
“It’s going to get much tougher now. The next game is going to be more physical than today (yesterday), we expect Tonga to come out all guns blazing so we have to stick to what we do best.
“We have to take it game by game. Sunday (tomorrow) will be important but we need to focus on each game until then.”
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