The Springbok Sevens may still be basking in the success of finally qualifying for the Paris Olympic Games, but the reality struck them shortly after their success in the Monaco Repechage tournament when they were drawn with New Zealand and Ireland in an extremely tough pool.
With the seedings coming as a result of performances in the last two HSBC World Sevens Series, the Blitzboks dip in form over the past two years has seen them rank low and they will have to face New Zealand and Ireland in a pool that includes Japan.
However, it wouldn’t matter as all three pools are tough, with hosts France drawn with defending Olympic champions Fiji in Pool C and World Series champions Argentina having been drawn with Australia, Samoa and Kenya, the latter who qualified as African Champions last year.
Twelve teams will compete in three pools of four teams in both the men’s and women’s competitions
France, who will sport their superstar Antoine Dupont in their campaign, also have a wildcard in the USA and debutants Uruguay in their pool.
Teams have been allocated into their pools based on their Olympic Seedings, with the first ranked team placed in pool A, second in pool B, third in pool C, then fourth in pool C, fifth in pool B, sixth in pool A, etc. The Olympic seedings were determined by the combined points gained by teams in the World Sevens Series 2023 and SVNS 2024, as well as performances in the Challenger Series and other World Rugby-sanctioned tournaments for teams not competing in the SVNS Series.
NEED SOMETHING SPECIAL
While the Blitzboks face a tough test at the Olympics in search for a medal, they know in any case that to get into the semifinals they will need to produce something special, performances which have eluded them all season long.
Since interim coach Philip Snyman took over, the team have been slowly building upwards, and while they still are far from the form that won them World Series’ in the past, they were in good form, clinical and focused in Monaco.
Now that the dream of making the Olympics has been achieved, the Blitzboks will buckle down to sort out detail in their game that could make a massive difference but they were understandably still basking in the limelight of achieving their goal.
“It’s a pretty special group we have here, just to cherish the moment is what we’re living for. There was a lot of external pressure, the people back home get disappointed [when we don’t perform], but we kept the group tight and it paid off, we qualified for Paris,” squad member Tristan Leyds said afterwards.
“To the people back home, thank you for supporting us and believing in us, we are going to take this energy to Paris.”
“We have some pretty special youngsters in our team, they made us proud this week,” added Rosko Specman. “The Olympics is the biggest sporting event in the world. It’s pretty special to play in an Olympics.”
The Blitzboks Women’s team were also handed a tough draw as they were placed in Pool B alongside SVNS Grand Final champions Australia, Ireland and Great Britain, all three sides that have comprehensively beaten them over the last year.
Olympic seedings
Men
Pool A: New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, Japan.
Pool B: Argentina, Australia, Samoa, Kenya
Pool C: Fiji, France, USA, Uruguay.
Women
Pool A: New Zealand, Fiji, Canada, China
Pool B: Australia, Ireland, Great Britain, South Africa
Pool C: France, USA, Japan, Brazil