Blitzboks keep one eye on Rio
Blitzboks coach, Neil Powell, urged his team to make the most of the opportunities presented to them in the next two tournaments of the World Rugby Sevens Series
The Blitzboks are in France for the HSBC Paris Sevens to be played at the weekend and will then travel to London for the tenth and final tournament of the 2015/16 series at Twickenham.
Powell feel players producing the goods this weekend can reap other rewards as well.
“It is a difficult two weeks coming up,” said Powell.
“It is the last two tournaments of a long season and in the past we did not perform to expectation or potential in those. Then the focus will shift to the Olympic Games just after that, so you want to finish the series with good performances.
"Yes, we have learned from the slump in those tournaments in the past where we could not sustain our effort. I think fatigue was one of the issues we picked up. So this year with the rotational system we tried to give guys some rest during the series.
“The guys have two opportunities here, in that they can win the series, but also push hard for a spot in the final Olympic squad. I am expecting the players to really push hard this week. We have seen a team like New Zealand travelling with a strong squad of 16 players to the last two tournaments, which will probably be the like final trials for the Olympics and we are not much different.”
Powell expects the team to remain focussed on what they can control in Paris.
“Often, with new tournaments such as this one, one finds little things that happen off the field that tend to impact on the performances on the field,” said Powell. “We still have a lot to achieve in this tournament though, so the challenge will be not to allow those uncontrollables to throw us off our game and mission.”
The Springbok Sevens will face England in Pool C on Friday and will play Brazil and Australia on Saturday.