BlitzBoks to sit down for chat with refs
The BlitzBoks moved to the top of the Sevens World Series standings, despite suffering a heart-breaking 21-24 loss to arch rivals New Zealand in the Final at Wellington Sevens on Sunday.
As was the case in the final match of pool play on Saturday, when the Kiwis scored after the full-time hooter had sounded for a 19-14 win, New Zealand got the winner well after regulation time had elapsed.
South African star Rosko Specman was yellow-carded in the 17th minute for a breakdown offence, with Rieko Ioane (two tries) and Joe Webber (three minutes after the hooter for full-time had sounded) scored tries – as the Kiwis came back from being 7-21 down to win 24-21.
Apart from the calls at the breakdown that puzzled the BlitzBoks, the referee had also called back South Africa – saying that Seabelo Senatla had lost the ball forward in a tackle, after it popped into the hands of Cheslin Kolbe – with the SA flyer having a clear run to the line.
BlitzBoks coach Neil Powell, unable to publicly criticize match officials, said his team was "unlucky" with some calls of referee Matt O'Brien – a New Zealander, who now is based in Australia.
"We had bad luck this whole weekend with calls from the referee, it didn't go our way," Powell said in his post-match reaction.
He added that they will sit down with the referees and see how they can improve.
"If we make mistakes at the rucks, [we need to know] how can we improve that," Powell said, adding: "We got penalised a lot around the rucks."
Powell was full of praise for the "character" and "effort" of his charges.
"I'm obviously disappointed with the result, but I am very happy with the performance of the squad," Powell said.
"They gave everything out there and I am proud of their efforts.
"They deserved more than a second place out of this tournament.
"We'll put it behind us, as we have another tournament in Sydney next weekend."
Powell later described the 31-0 semifinal win against Fiji as a special performance.
"To beat Fiji in that manner and to keep them scoreless is unbelievable.
"The boys deserves credit for that special performance.
"It shows the character, fighting spirit and never-say-die attitude."
The BlitzBok coach was also very pleased with the depth of his squad, especially after Justin Geduld did not play at all on Sunday – while Juan de Jongh also hobbled off in the Final with a calf injury.
"It was important for us to see how we would perform without regulars such as Frankie Horne, Kyle Brown, Cecil Afrika and Werner Kok.
"We also lost Ryno Benjamin on the eve of the tournament, so it was very pleasing to see the guys playing so well in Wellington."
