SA’s dominance of the World Sevens Series continues with sixth tournament win in a row

SA’s dominance of the HSBC World Sevens Series this season continued when they claimed a sixth tournament win in a row at the inaugural event in Seville, Spain on Sunday.

The Blitzboks extended their incredible winning run in matches to 34 with a comprehensive 33-7 victory over Australia in the decider in which Christie Grobbelaar (two), Ryan Oosthuizen, Darren Adonis and Impi Visser scored tries. The match was tied at 7-7 at halftime, but as they do so often, the Blitzboks turned up the heat in the second period, with their relentless pressure forcing the Australians into errors and two yellow cards, which meant their opponents had to play most of the half with six players.

The victory did not come without a cost, however, as Justin Geduld was stretchered with what looked a serious injury. Branco du Preez was injured against Scotland earlier in the tournament, while the team was playing without inspirational regular skipper Siviwe Soyizwapi due to a shoulder problem he picked up the previous week in Malaga.

“It is pretty emotional for us. We had to dig deep,” said stand-in captain Visser.

“They [Australia] are a tough team to play against. Credit to them. I think our boys grafted a bit more, and in the end we wanted it a bit more.

“This was a win that tested our character and resilience, and it is a feeling of relief and pride to know that we stood firm against some very good teams out there. It was never about the winning streak or number of trophies won. It is our system that rewarded our belief and trust.”

The player of the final was all-action star Grobbelaar, who continues to impress in the Blitzbok jersey.

“This is a team effort. We each have a role to play and when we do our jobs well, the rewards are there for everyone to enjoy,” Grobbelaar said.

“This was a hard-fought tournament. We had some bad patches, but we kept the faith and belief in what we needed to do. These wins are testimony to the hard work we do in Stellenbosch [at the team’s training base].”

The Blitzboks are 18 points clear at the top of the World Series table with a long break until the next tournament in Singapore on April 9 and 10. There are further events in Vancouver, Toulouse, London and Los Angeles, where the season will close in August. The field for the two events in Spain was weakened by the absence of Fiji and New Zealand, the former due to a Covid-19 outbreak in their squad and the latter because of the travel restrictions imposed by their government.

Whether they return for some or all of the remaining events remains to be seen, but the Blitzboks can only play who is in front of them and they have proven comfortably the best on tour this season.  

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