It’s go big or go home for coach Neil Powell’s Blitzboks at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham this weekend.
One of the country’s big gold medal hopefuls, Powell’s current Sevens World Series champions begin their quest for gold against Malaysia in the first Sevens session on Friday from 10am, before finishing off the day against Tonga in the second session from 6.30pm.
The end of their Pool B action against Scotland on Saturday from 10am in the hopes of making Sunday’s finals.
Powell knows in a once-off tournament that only comes around once every four years, they don’t have time to mess around.
With South Africa having won the event in 2014, Powell says: “For us it will be a challenge, because you only get one opportunity as opposed to the World Series format, where you can rectify things the next weekend if things didn’t go well for you in a tournament.
“It’s all or nothing because there is no second chance [the following weekend].”
Of their matches in Pool B, Powell says: “We start off with Malaysia and the important thing for us would be to get straight into our flow in that first game.
🗣️ Neil Powell on playing at @thecgf: “It’s all or nothing because there is no second chance” - more here: https://t.co/OhSzhF30A0#BestofUs pic.twitter.com/ARDac3YAua
— Springbok Sevens (@Blitzboks) July 28, 2022
“Then we know Tonga will always be physical, and if we give them too much ball possession, they will make your pay for it.
“Scotland are a really good team. They managed to beat us the last time we met so we have to perform and hopefully do better against them. If we can manage to get out of our group then we cross pools [for the quarterfinals] with a group consisting of Fiji, Canada and Wales.”
🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦 The two SA Sevens teams for @thecgf in Birmingham have been named - more here: https://t.co/pUGCWyZeO4#BestOfUs #TogetherMovingForward pic.twitter.com/Z88dROL91V
— Springbok Sevens (@Blitzboks) July 21, 2022
Blitzboks squad: Sakoyisa Makata, Christie Grobbelaar, James Murphy, Zain Davids, Angelo Davids, JC Pretorius, Ronald Brown, Selvyn Davids, Shaun Williams, Dewald Human, Siviwe Soyizwapi (captain), Muller du Plessis and Mfundo Ndhlovu.