Blitzbokke coach Neil Powell wrote off their London Sevens disappointment and will instead celebrate their qualification for next year’s Tokyo Olympics.
Their showing at Twickenham last weekend put the final nail in the coffin of their World Rugby Sevens Series title defence as they crashed out at cup quarterfinal stage.
The defeats to Australian and New Zealand in the knockouts meant the Blitzboks finished the London Sevens in joint-seventh place.
But the 10 log points secured the fourth spot in the Series after England faltered in their home tournament, guaranteeing them a spot at the Olympic Sevens tournament alongside the USA, Fiji and New Zealand.
And Powell says: “One of our main aims at the start of the season was to make sure we qualify in the top four in order to get that automatic qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
“We ticked that box and we are grateful and pleased with that. It does ease the disappointment of our performances here on the second day a bit.
“Our match against Australia was probably our worst all season as we simply didn’t play near to what we are capable of and supposed to.”
LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE: Neil Powell. Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/Backpagepix.
Powell praised their focus against New Zealand, saying: “At least we showed some effort in that match and I will never fault that. The result was unfortunate, but we showed some urgency in the match.”
Powell believes that the Springbok Sevens had it almost too easy on Day One of the London action - smashing Japan 49-0, Canada 45-14 and Argentina 40-12.
He says: “Maybe we had it too easy on the first day.
“The younger players need to learn that you cannot bank on good performances on day one and then not show up the next. We were just not good enough in that match and that was very disappointing.”
He warned his squad that they will have to learn their lessons and maintain their intensity throughout the tournament when they compete in Paris - the final leg of the season.
Powell says: “We will be really tough on ourselves. What we showed out their wasn’t good enough.
“And we’ll definitely prepare for Paris and make sure we look at ourselves and implement the things we want when we get on the pitch.”