BlitzBokke see 'many positives'
South Africa may not have reached the Final, but Springbok coach Paul Treu felt there were many positives from the side’s performance at the Gold Coast Sevens – the first leg of the IRB World Series.
The BlitzBokke won the first ever play-off for third place, when they beat hosts Australia 17-7 at Skilled Park on Saturday.
Treu’s men, who beat France 14-5 in the Cup quarterfinals, were outplayed by a dominant Fiji in the semifinals – with the Pacific Islanders winning 24-7.
Fiji captured the first title of the season, beating New Zealand 26-12 in the Cup Final.
South Africa lost playmaker Cecil Afrika on the first day, after the IRB Sevens Player of the Year sustained a rib injury during the pool stage on Friday.
Treu confirmed that Afrika will remain with the team and will travel with the squad on Sunday to Dubai for the second leg of the series.
“We are disappointed that we could not protect our ball much better against Fiji, who was clearly the best side on Day Two,” Treu said.
“However, there were many positives over the two days for us.
“Robert [Ebersohn] did well in his first outing for us in two years, Chase Minnaar played for the first time in a year, while Renfred Dazel is fully fit and played with no ill effects from his knee injury which has kept him out since the Las Vegas tournament last season.
“We already started much better than last season, when we somehow could not get going from the beginning.
“I think that is the most pleasing aspect of the weekend for us.
“We now have 17 points and for us that is a reasonably good start.
“It is a long way to go, there are eight more tournaments remaining and now we need to regroup and prepare for Dubai,” said Treu.
