BlitzBoks hope to avoid Olympic pitfalls

The Springbok Sevens team are competing in Brazil as part of TEAM South Africa, and according to the coach, the squad is looking forward to their first match on Tuesday – against Spain in pool B of the competition at the Deordora Stadium in Rio.

"It is an exciting time for the B;litzBok team here in Rio," Powell said.

"We have been here for a week or so and are ready and keen to get underway," Powell said.

"As expected, there were some upsets in the women's event, and we have no doubt that it will be the same in the men's tournament, so we need to make sure that we are well-prepared come Tuesday, and that we are switched on for our first match against Spain.

"We have only one focus at this stage and that is our opening match. We are not looking at anything else outside of those 14 minutes.

"Once that match is done, we will focus on France and our match later in the evening.

"There is a good spirit amongst the players and we are confident that we can deliver the goods, provided we stick to our structures and processes."

South Africa will play in pool B of the tournament – where they will face Spain and France on Tuesday and Australia on Wednesday.

The first of the quarterfinals will be played later on Wednesday, with Thursday hosting the various play-offs for the Final.

South African Sevens squad:  Kyle Brown (captain), Tim Agaba, Philip Snyman, Werner Kok, Dylan Sage, Albertus Smith, Rosko Specman, Cheslin Kolbe, Cecil Afrika, Justin Geduld, Juan de Jongh, Seabelo Senatla.

Travelling reserves: Chris Dry, Francois Hougaard.