Springbok Sevens off to good start at Assupol Sevens
The Springbok Sevens team secured a quarterfinal berth against Maties Sevens at the Assupol International Sevens tournament on Sunday after scoring three wins on Day One of the tournament, beating England Academy, Namibia and Scotland at the Markötter Stadium in Stellenbosch.
The South Africans played with more rhythm as the tournament progresses and Springbok Sevens coach, Neil Powell, is hoping for more of the same on Day Two of the tournament.
“We have a mix of youngsters, experienced guys who have not played for a while and some players returning from fifteens, so I was not expecting them to be perfect today. We did make some mistakes, but overall we got out of the day what we wanted. The guys got some much needed matches under the belt. You need matches to improve and the guys got that.”
They overcame England Academy 24-5 in their opening match.
Powell named a group of 16 players for the tournament and gave a number of SA Rugby Sevens Academy regulars a first taste of international sevens rugby, including local Maties player, Michal Haznar.
Most importantly for coach Powell was the return to play of Justin Geduld, with the inspirational playmaker showing no signs of being out of action since March with a foot injury.
The South Africans scored two tries in each half and conceded one late in the first half.
South African Scorers:
Tries: Ryan Oosthuizen (2), Marco Labuschagne, Siviwe Soyizwapi. Conversions: Justin Geduld, Branco du Preez.
In their second match, against Namibia, the South Africans started impressively, with Haznar, on debut at this tournament, dotting down in the first minute.
A hat-trick by Siviwe Soyizwapi helped the side to a 46-7 win, with Sako Makata, Dewald Human and Impi Visser getting on the score sheet.
South African Scorers:
Dewald Human, Siviwe Soyizwapi (3), Impi Visser, Sako Makata, Justin Geduld, Michal Haznar. Conversions: Justin Geduld (2), Rosko Specman.
In their final match of the day, against Scotland, another hat-trick by Siviwe Soyizwapi and a five-pointer to Philip Snyman eased them into a 22-10 win over the European side.
The home side scored two quick tries to jump into a 10 point lead but conceded one just before the break.
In the second half, Soyizwapi twice finished off some stellar build-up play on his inside, while Scotland scored just before the final whistle.
South African Scorers:
Tries: Siviwe Soyizwapi (3), Philip Snyman. Conversion: Dewald Human
•South Africa face Maties at 11h20 on Sunday.
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