Selvyn Davids was the talk of the town in Vancouver, Canada, this past weekend as South Africa finally broke their Sevens Series season trophy drought.
Entering the new season as champions, the Blitzboks couldn’t even make it to the final of the first five tournaments.
Their failure in those tournaments was attributed to the team losing a number of stars to Super Rugby franchises.
Playmaker Rosko Specman is currently doing duty on the wing for the Bulls, while hard-working midfielder Ruhan Nel is at the Stormers.
With Kwagga Smith (Lions) and Seabelo Senatla (Stormers) also shifting their attention to the XVs code, it was only natural that the squad would battle as they waited for new heroes to emerge.
And emerge is exactly what Davids did to help his team out of the ashes, scoring the most points in the tournament (59) and also winning the Player of the Final award.
He was included in the tournament’s Dream Team alongside JC Pretorius.
But it was his incredible soccer skills to set up a try against Canada in the pool phase that went viral and made the world sit up and take notice of his special talent.
After following up his own chip kick, Davids then grubbered the ball on the bounce and just as it was about to cross the touchline, he kicked a lob pass to captain Philip Snyman before the Blitzboks scored.
Davids, though, didn’t win the tournament on his own for the Blitzboks and as a team, they showed tremendous fighting character in the final against France.
With the French taking an early lead with a try, SA hit back through Impi Visser, Davids and Werner Kok before the French scored a late consolation try to make it 21-12.
Coach Neil Powell couldn’t be happier at the final whistle and says of his team: “One could feel the team was getting together and bonding.
“It was never about the potential of the players, rather the ability to play for and with each other. “I felt that the squad needed some time to combine and mould as a team and it happened this weekend.
“It is amazing how 13 players, all from different cultures and backgrounds, can combine under one flag and for one jersey.”