The Blitzboks ended a rather disappointing home World Rugby Sevens series tournament with defeat after being bullied and completely outplayed by their New Zealand counterparts in the fifth-place playoff
The 31-7 drubbing basically summed up the Blitzboks' weekend, as a combination of injuries, lack of physicality and creativity ruined their chances of winning a second Cape Town title.
The defeat brought to a close a terrible tournament for the hosts, who won the Dubai leg of the series for a fifth successive time. They came into this tournament with some momentum after the win in the desert, but they were totally outplayed when it mattered.
They just can't seem to get it right in Cape Town, as they last won the South African leg in the Mother City in 2015 — the inaugural event since it moved to from the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Port Elizabeth, now known as Gqeberha.
It was South Africa's third defeat of the weekend, after they lost their final pool match against Ireland and their quarter-final clash against Australia.
Somehow the Blitzboks need to get it together if they want to qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024. They have one more shot in the final qualifying tournament after they failed to make it through the series qualifiers, as well as the African qualifiers.
It’s not impossible, but the team will have to play better than what they dished up in Cape Town over this weekend.
IOL Sport