The Blitzboks team went “back to school” this week as they stepped up preparations for the Singapore Sevens this weekend.
Springbok Sevens coach Neil Powell threw the ball back to his team this week and tasked them to do presentations to the rest of the squad on the various aspects of play.
And according to Justin Geduld, the analysis and introspective look at their performances were just what the squad needed to mentally refresh themselves for this weekend’s tournament.
The experienced playmaker admits that it made the players realise that they only have themselves to blame for an underwhelming performance in Hong Kong, where they lost both their matches on knock-out day on Sunday, resulting in a lowly seventh place.
INTROSPECT: Neil Powell. Photo: Aubrey Kgakatsi/BackpagePix.
Geduld says: “We had to own up.
“We had many opportunities and we didn’t exploit all of them. We were out there on the field and were the ones who did not execute.
“If you don’t execute and use your opportunities, you will be punished.
“Maybe we were a bit impatient at times and tried to force the issue, instead of trusting the plan.
“We picked up that we tended to try and do things individually at times and did not trust the plan, which was fatal.
“We had to look at the various aspects of our play, such as attack, defence and breakdowns, and presented that. It certainly gave us another angle and perspective on how we played and executed and what we did wrong.”
LEARNT FROM MISTAKES: Bok Chris Dry. Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/Backpagepix.
Veteran forward Chris Dry agrees, saying: “We needed to look at ourselves, not only how we mentally performed, but also our execution on the field.
“That is where the analysis comes in handy. It jigs the mind on why we did things in a certain way, and if we made mistakes, a mental note follows. That is how one learns.”