Powell leaves, but his legacy will stay forever

Neil Powell left the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday night without the Rugby World Cup trophy that he hoped to win for South Africa.

But as he bowed out of the Springbok Sevens coaching job after nine years, he left a legacy that will last a lot longer than his tenure and boots that will be difficult to fill.

The Blitzboks are one of the more romantic teams in the country, performing when the rainbow nation needs them most. Skill, power and pace are all hallmarks of the team on the field, but it has been their humility and all-round goodness off the field that has made them so universally loved.

Powell is at the heart of that system - a system that has been tried and tested, copied around the world without the same success that the Blitzboks coach found in his time in charge.

While Paul Treu put the starting blocks in place for the Blitzboks, Powell crafted them into a professional machine. At their base in Stellenbosch, the Sevens team grew in stature as ambassadors for the country and in everything they did.

Powell’s hand was there all along - and he was loved as a father figure, making the past week so emotional for his players.

IMPACTFUL

It is true that Selvyn Davids became tearful when talking of Powell’s legacy last week and it was apparent when Angelo Davids and JC Pretorius both were overcome by emotion after their final game on Sunday.

It was clear Powell had a massive impact on them.

“Whenever we speak about Neil Powell, it always hits me deep. He was the man who changed me,” a very emotional Davids said on Sunday.

“He was the guy who told me that I could make it; the guy who was there when I needed a father; he was the guy who told me to never give up, to keep going, to keep believing. So for him, I want to thank him for what he did in my life. I’m going to miss him a hell of a lot - and I love him so much.”

Pretorius added a similar sentiment, focusing on Powell’s ability to be a father figure for the team.

“Some of the guys come from far away - straight out of school and haven’t been away from home before. My home is about 1 500km away - over the weekends I can’t fly back home and see my friends. Coach Neil stepped in as a father figure. He formed us as better men off the field. That was his main goal - to make us better men and better players on and off the field”

GOLDEN ERA

Powell's nine-year career as Springbok Sevens coach heralded a golden era for the Blitzboks. They won three HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series titles and in the 75 World Series tournaments he presided over the team, they played in 37 Cup Finals, winning 22.

Incidentally, Powell remains the only person in Rugby Sevens who has a World Series gold medal as player and coach among his accolades.

The Blitzboks also won two Commonwealth Games gold medals and claimed two bronze medals in the first Rugby Sevens event at the Olympic Games in 2016, and the previous Rugby World Cup Sevens, in San Francisco in 2018.

So deep a part of the Sevens tapestry in South Africa, Powell reflected on more than a decade as player and coach of the team.

“I would like to remember the wins, like our very first one in the World Series in Wellington, my very first one in South Africa as a coach, when we won in the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium only a couple of days after President Mandela had passed away, and of course the World Series wins, especially the second one in 2018, when we beat England in the last game of the series to be crowned champions,” said Powell.

“Then the Commonwealth gold wins also, but the thing I will treasure most will be the human beings I coached. I saw many of them develop into fantastic people and that was more important than gold.”

EMOTIONS OVERCAME

Powell admitted the emotion of the week may have gotten to the players, and they were disappointed they let the fans down.

“I won't say the emotion of the whole weekend was that much of a contributing factor, but a lot of the team played here for the first time, and it does get to you, especially because you are the home team,” he said.

“We did not play to their expectations, or ours for that matter, so we need to apologise for that.

“Although it was a World Cup, the majority of the spectators came to support us. When you run out that tunnel, you can feel the energy and hopefully the players learned from that and use that in a positive way when they come back in December.”

LEGACY

Powell will now move onto becoming the director of rugby at the Cell C Sharks, a new challenge in a different environment.

But he will leave a legacy behind him that will be remembered fondly for years to come.

Asked what made him the most proud in his nine years in charge, it was an easy answer for the normally focused Powell.

"I think the people and the system; the system has grown into this amazing system where the people have got good manners, got great culture and are respectful and disciplined,” he said.

“For me, it was always about the culture and the team and the people that are in the team. Young men come into the system and they develop and grow into adults and they walk out of there mature and disciplined and respectful. It was great to be a part of it and I am so honoured for the time that I spent in the system."

And South Africa can be honoured to have him in charge for so long.