Disciplined BlitzBoks want to shed bridesmaid tag
South African coach Neil Powell pointed to his team's improved 'discipline' as one of the key areas they addressed ahead of the start of the 2016/17 Sevens World Series.
And it paid rich dividends in the opening round in Dubai last week – where they beat Fiji (26-14) in the Final and had earlier demolished arch-rivals New Zealand 40-0 in the quarterfinal.
"We had a good review of last season," Powell said.
"We looked over the stats and it was clear we were up there in a number of areas such as tackles completed, tries conceded and tries scored. We were up there with Fiji and New Zealand on those aspects, but we fell down on game management.
"Discipline also cost us at times. We were one of the teams who got the most yellow cards last series.
"And in Sevens you can't afford to take your foot off the gas at all.
"If you don't take your opportunities you will suffer the consequences.
"Elsewhere there were errors in big games, such as not being ready for the kick off against Scotland in London back in May, where we failed to keep the ball and they got it back then scored."
Powell said they are determined to break their runner-up streak on the world series.
For the past four series, the BlitzBoks have finished as runner-up.
In fact, the last time South Africa won the series was back in 2008/09, when Powell was a player and the head coach was Paul Treu, who Powell eventually succeeded in 2012.
In the 2012-13 series, Powell's first in charge, the BlitzBoks won more tournaments than any other side (three), but finished 41 points behind New Zealand.
In 2013-14, they narrowed the gap to New Zealand by 28 points, and in both 2014-15 and 2015-16 they were just 10 points behind winners Fiji.
Powell knows its time for South Africa to clinch another series.
"Somebody said we are tired of getting second and the fact we did well in the past two seasons doesn't mean will perform again," he said.
"We can't come into this tournament and think we can just start where we left in Dubai. We need to start all over again.
"That will be the theme this week in our preparation, getting mentally prepared for Cape Town again.
"We have a really tough pool with USA, Australia and Russia so I think we are going to need a big mental shift. There are some technical areas we can improve on, we'll be working on both defence and attack this week, particularly game management."
Source: @WorldRugby7s
